Anatomy of damage control: examining the fallout after pro-Beijing lawmakers' spectacular own goal
While Liberal Party lawmakers are praised and their colleagues panned, the pro-Beijing camp must repair the damage before two key elections
Part 1: In the wake of the historic defeat of the electoral reform package and the bungled walkout, the Post examines the fallout in the pro-establishment camp
On Thursday night, Liberal Party honorary chairman James Tien Pei-chun uploaded a black-and-white picture of a pig on his Facebook page with a sarcastic caption: "How can there be so many conspiracy theories? It's just simply people's incurable stupidity."
Within 17 hours, the post - apparently referring to the botched walkout by his allies just before lawmakers voted on the government's electoral reform proposal - had earned the outspoken lawmaker more than 33,000 likes and 6,400 shares, the most since he launched the official page four years ago.
The fiasco that left the government's reform package with merely eight yes votes not only intensified the split within the pro-establishment camp but unexpectedly created bunches of winners and losers.
The Liberal Party, which swiftly won praise from the central government's liaison office for having all five of its lawmakers stay in the chamber to vote for the plan, is now reaping the harvest after people across the board paid tribute to its "independent thinking".
But the party's colleagues are already feeling the heat.
It is understood that a number of organisations that represent small and-medium-sized enterprises - members of the city's business chambers - have expressed strong dissatisfaction with lawmaker Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung, the representative of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce (HKGCC) in Legco, who co-led the walkout.