‘We’re sorry’: Hong Kong pro-establishment lawmakers apologise for reform vote walkout

Thirty-three pro-establishment lawmakers took out a half-page advertisement in Chinese-language newspapers this morning to apologise for their walkout from the Legislative Council’s key vote on the political reform package yesterday.

In an apparent move of damage control, the ad also omitted any mention of eight pro-establishment lawmakers’ decision to ignore their allies’ walkout, and explained that it was a failure to “handle the timing accurately” that was to blame.

Liberal Party chairman Felix Chung Kwok-pan, one of the eight, had said it was wrong for his pro-establishment allies to suggest it was “unfortunate” that the eight lawmakers did not leave the chamber and postpone the vote for 15 minutes.

The advertisement, titled “Pro-establishment lawmakers strongly reprimand the opposition lawmakers for voting down the political reform proposal”, was published in at least seven newspapers including the pro-Beijing Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao, business paper the Hong Kong Economic Journal, plus Ming Pao and Sing Tao Daily.

It largely repeated the group’s joint statement read out by the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong’s former chairman Tam Yiu-chung yesterday, who explained that the 31 “walked out of the chamber … hoping to buy time for [lawmaker] Lau [Wong-fat] to make it for the vote.”

But apparently to avoid further disagreement within the camp, the statement no longer mentioned that eight “pro-establishment lawmakers did not leave their seat immediately because of the short notice given”, but instead only explained that the 33 who did not vote did so because “we did not handle the timing accurately”.