The transformation of mild-mannered Hong Kong lawmaker Chan Kin-por into radical-baiting head of Legco's Finance Committee

When Chan Kin-por was elected chairman of the Legislative Council's Finance Committee on October 9, critics questioned whether the insurance sector lawmaker was up for the job.

That was partly because Chan's predecessors had struggled with the pan-democrats' repeated campaigns to derail several controversial funding requests from the administration of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying.

READ MORE: Hong Kong tech bureau: Legco committee sets limit on pan-democrats' bid to delay funding vote

Last year, then-chairman Ng Leung-sing faced a legal challenge after the government's funding request for a new town project was approved amid chaos, while the funding proposal for a new innovation and technology bureau was killed off twice by radical pan-democrats this year under the chairmanship of veteran lawmaker Tommy Cheung Yu-yan.

Chan won praise from his pro-establishment allies and officials when funding was finally approved on November 6 - it had taken him less than a month.

But Chan's "achievement" did not silent his critics, who said the lawmaker had set a bad precedent by slashing the pan-democrats' motions on the proposals from more than 1,000 to less than 100.

Chan has remained defiant about his decision, saying that while the Finance Committee's procedures allowed lawmakers to move motions without prior notice, he had to impose a cap to "ensure that the meeting will be conducted in an orderly and efficient manner".