Legco chair monopoly: Hong Kong's pro-establishment camp snaps up key posts on Legislative Council committees
17-year tradition of sharing committee chairs between Beijing-loyalist and pan-dem camps ends amid claims that it will damage relations with the government
The pro-establishment camp on Friday monopolised four key posts in the Legislative Council's top committees for the first time in 17 years, as the pan-democrats criticised them for "damaging ties between the executive branch and the legislature".
Since the first post-handover Legco took office in 1998, the chairmanship and vice-chairmanship of its House Committee have gone, respectively, to a pro-establishment and a pan-democratic lawmaker. Since 2004, pan-democrat Emily Lau Wai-hing has been either the chairwoman or vice-chairwoman of the Finance Committee.
However, this tradition ended yesterday as pro-Beijing lawmakers Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen and Chan Kin-por were elected chairmen of the house and finance committees, with their allies Ma Fung-kwok and Chan Kam-lam returned as their respective deputies.
The Finance Committee chairman has the power to decide when and which government funding proposal is to be scrutinised, with his deputy standing in as required.
The House Committee is responsible for setting the agenda of Legco council meetings. Its chairman and his deputy meet the chief secretary every week, and could decide whether to allow police to enter the Legco building in an emergency.
The House Committee vice-chairmanship was held by pan-democrat Ronny Tong Ka-wah, who quit the Civic Party and Legco in the summer.
As lawmakers met yesterday to elect the House Committee's top posts, Democrat Sin Chung-kai's bid for vice-chairmanship was backed by the pro-establishment Liberal Party, but he was defeated 27-32 by Ma in the voting.