The rise and fall of Hong Kong’s pro-independence lawmakers
It took just two months and one especially unwisely chosen word for the newly-elected stars of Hong Kong’s localist scene to fall from grace. Now they face million-dollar legal debts, the wrath of the political establishment and disapproval even from their own supporters. So, do they think it was worth it?
Make pots of money, retire at 40 and open a dive school in the pristine waters of a Southeast Asian island.
Such was the dream of Sixtus Baggio Leung Chung-hang, one of two pro-independence lawmakers whose disqualification from Hong Kong’s Legislative Council has unleashed one of the biggest political and media storms to have hit the SAR in recent times.
Rather than clear-blue water, the 30-year-old graduate in business administration from City University has dived headlong into a deep legal entanglement that could take him years to extricate himself from, possibly leaving him penniless in the process.
Likewise the ambitions of his Younspiration party stablemate, Yau Wai-ching, 25, a history and literature buff who writes “Boys’ Love” fiction (a Japanese genre featuring romance between male characters) and harbours an idea of launching a monthly literary magazine.
Both must now put their dreams on hold as they face up to the wrath of not one, but two political establishments, deal with their newfound status as public pariahs and battle a legal action that could saddle them with millions of dollars in debt. And all because of a few moments of what might kindly be described as immaturity – some say sheer folly – during their swearing in ceremony in which they slurred the word “Chee-na”, swore and unfurled a banner.