AN academic said yesterday the low attendance rate was due to the interim body's aim of building up authority for the Government rather than criticising it. Professor Lau Siu-kai of the Chinese University said he was not surprised by the poor figures. 'There is little disagreement. The members will not criticise the Government by attending meetings to voice their opinion,' he said. Some members were uncontested in the functional constituencies and need not worry that they would be attacked by a rival over their performances, he added. They included James Tien Pei-chun and David Li Kwok-po, uncontested in the Commercial 1 sector and Banking sector. 'Most of the members are businessmen and they are not career politicians. They are not thinking of giving up their careers so they spare less time for the interim body. 'Those with poor attendance rates are not running for direct election, except the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood's Bruce Liu Sing-lee, so they do not care about their performance.'
