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Even barred Legco members should go, says lawmaker

A newly elected lawmaker yesterday called on Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa to arrange for all 60 legislators, including those barred from entering the mainland, to visit Beijing.

Raymond Ho Chung-tai, who represents the engineering sector, also urged Mr Tung not to reintroduce the Article 23 security bill during his term.

Mr Ho, who is a member of the Breakfast Group of non-aligned legislators, was among six functional constituency lawmakers who met Mr Tung yesterday.

'I told him  that all legislators are elected according to the Basic Law, so all of them should have the opportunity to meet with state leaders,' Mr Ho said after the 90-minute meeting.

'Although individual lawmakers might have different political views, it should be okay for them to go as a group.'

Mr Ho said Mr Tung should not reintroduce the national security bill within his term because his priority should be on improving the economy.

He declined to give Mr Tung's response.

Mr Ho's suggestion came after Mr Tung said on Thursday that the Article 23 bill would not be reintroduced to Legco until there was a 'basic consensus' on the question.

He also said constitutional reforms and safeguarding the economic recovery took priority over security legislation.

Mandy Tam Heung-man,  who represents the accountancy sector, said she asked the chief executive to help reduce the number of examinations accountants had to take.

Patrick Lau Sau-shing,  of the architectural, surveying and planning sector, who also attended the meeting, said he was happy to hear that Mr Tung was willing to invest resources into community infrastructure as it could create more jobs.

Health services sector representative Joseph Lee Kok-long  said he asked Mr Tung for a 'health-oriented' medical policy.

Two other Breakfast Group lawmakers, Bernard Charnwut Chan, who represents the insurance sector, and Lui Ming-wah,  who represents the industrial (second), also attended the meeting.

Mr Tung will meet a group of pro-democracy lawmakers today, including 'Long Hair' Leung Kwok-hung, The Frontier's Emily Lau Wai-hing, independent Chan Wai-yip, and the chairman of the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood, Frederick Fung Kin-kee.



Arrange Beijing trips for all, Tung told