Using high-sounding rhetoric, Liberal Party chief Allen Lee Peng-fei spoke more like a Democrat than the head of a businessman-led party in Wednesday's Budget debate.
'As a political party that faced the masses and is accountable to voters, [we] must try our best to fight for the policies that are in the best interest of the public based on conscience and public opinion, and give an account to the public afterwards,' Mr Lee said.
'Pitifully, some commentators have deliberately confused right and wrong, black and white, and put labels on the Liberal Party.
'What is a fulfilment of our duty has become a calculated move in the eyes of some commentators for us to get votes, publicity and claim the credit.
'Those people do not understand the truth about democratic politics and how they work . . . What's wrong with a political party founded by the masses working for their voters?' he asked.
It sounds fine when put like that. But the idea of 'going to the masses' is in marked contrast to the public perception of the party as a political lobby for business interests. With the notable exception of Mr Lee, the veteran founding chairman of the party, all his colleagues in the disbanded Legco represented business and professional interests. He was the only legislator returned in a geographical constituency in 1995. Whatever Mr Lee may say, his party has seldom been strongly associated with 'the masses', nor has it been a champion of the have-nots.
Therefore, it was hardly surprising that more than 20 members of the Hong Kong Island branch of the party vented their deep-rooted frustrations recently over the leadership's ignorance of the importance of district work. They did it by leaving en masse.
