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Pro-government legislator Philip Wong Yu-hong yesterday escaped punishment for his vulgar gesture to protesters outside the Legislative Council last Wednesday.

The Legco committee on members' interests, which took up the incident at the request of Democratic Party chairman Yeung Sum, concluded yesterday that it did not have jurisdiction to examine the conduct of members.

Based on legal advice, chairman David Chu Yu-lin said the committee could only set guidelines for the conduct of members. He said the panel would write to complainants to explain the decision.

The gesture made by Mr Wong, the chairman of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, sparked public outrage after it was broadcast live on television.

A grinning Mr Wong was seen raising the middle finger of his right hand towards the window of a government minibus taking him through the 50,000-strong crowd that joined last week's protest.

While Mr Wong apologised the following day, his claim that he had been merely returning the gesture to an individual protester failed to dampen public outrage.

By yesterday, 257 complaints had been received by the Broadcasting Authority, while Legco's complaints and public information divisions received 434 complaints.

Last night Mr Wong said the incident would not affect his position, and he criticised the protesters for disrupting Legco operations.

Legco's senior assistant legal adviser, Lee Yu-sung, said that if a legislator considered that a fellow member should be censured for misbehaviour or breach of oath, they could move a motion under Rule 49b of Legco's rules of procedure for investigation.

But most of the panel members have expressed concerns that this method of censure could become a political tool among members to attack their opponents. They said it was also difficult to define what constituted 'misbehaviour'.



Philip Wong escapes penalty over rude gesture