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Gary Cheung

Officials are taking the party for granted, says leader Ma Lik

The leader of the DAB has complained that government officials have not given the party 'due respect'.

Ma Lik said that political favours offered by the government had been disproportionate to the party's support for the administration.

In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Mr Ma, chairman of the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong, said the next chief executive should share power with political parties by picking some ministers from those parties, including the DAB.

'I am adamant that [former DAB chairman] Tsang Yok-sing   is qualified for the post of minister,' he said.

Mr Ma said the number of DAB members appointed to advisory committees was small given  its support for the government.

Sixty-three  members of the party are  serving on about 50 advisory committees. More than 5,000 members of the public serve on around 500 advisory bodies in Hong Kong.

No  DAB members sit on influential statutory bodies such as the Hospital Authority, the Airport Authority and the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation.

It seemed the government considered appointing DAB members to advisory bodies posed a liability, Mr Ma said. It should not think this way if it considered the party a political ally, he added.

The DAB joined the pro-government bloc two years ago, with Mr Tsang taking a seat on the Executive Council, but the party has distanced itself from the administration since the July 1 march last year.

Mr Ma  said senior officials had been taking the party's  support for granted.

'Many senior officials do not share a common language with our party. Their mindset is closer to the Liberal Party and even the Democratic Party.' He  said it was unlikely that a ruling party would emerge in the next 10 years but the DAB  wished to join a governing coalition in future.

Mr Ma said  any governing coalition should comprise a capable chief executive who was acceptable to different sectors of society, a team of principal officials sharing the same ideals with the city's leader and the stable support of major political parties in the Legislative Council.

The DAB has vowed to 'actively participate' in the election of the  chief executive and the formation of the new administration.

'The next chief executive should share power with political parties joining the coalition and pick some ministers from the parties,' Mr Ma said, adding that the government should not hesitate in nominating members from political parties as ministers.

'The governance crisis since the introduction of the accountability system arose from the chief executive's selection of ministers from a small circle of people close to him.'



We deserve to have minister in cabinet, says the DAB