Hong Kong comeback kid Frederick Fung gets ready for the bad times

There is a saying in political circles about election defeat - politics is the only profession where there is life after death.

And for Frederick Fung Kin-kee, who lost his district council seat in the recent elections and is therefore unable to run for a Legislative Council "super seat" next year, his "resurrection" will not take too long - he is already preparing his comeback.

"I will not give up Lai Kok. I will not give up Sham Shui Po residents," said Fung, a veteran pan-democrat with the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood, which Fung founded in 1986.

Now 62, Fung started trying his hand in politics during his university days.

He entered the University of Hong Kong in 1974 but was ousted a year later because he spent too much time organising social movements and failed his exams. He then joined the pressure group Society for Community Organisation.

In 1979, he flew to Britain to study and obtained an undergraduate degree in social policy and public administration at the University of Bradford in 1982. On his return to Hong Kong, he was elected to the now disbanded Urban Council in 1983. In 1991, he became a legislator through direct elections.

A moderate pan-democrat, he is known for his middle-of-the-road strategy of "simultaneously negotiating with and confronting" Beijing, which, in his words, is to try to keep contact with the mainland authorities so you will have a chance to convince them to listen to your views.