Allen Lee Peng-fei, one of the few local delegates to the National People's Congress who is a household name in Hong Kong, is getting ready to quit his last formal political position.
But not seeking re-election to the national legislature after being a member for a decade doesn't mean he will entirely vanish from the political scene where he has been dominant for 30 years.
He plans to continue his 10-year fight for a Hong Kong office for the local NPC delegates, and will carry on as a political commentator and talk-show host.
Mr Lee insists it's time to lay to rest suspicions that an office for the delegates would establish another power base in the city. It would not only 'shorten the distance' between the citizens and the delegates and get the delegates exposure, he said, but it could also help them to carry out their duties, such as assisting Hongkongers who had trouble on the mainland.
'At the very beginning, Hong Kong delegates were regarded as pretty sensitive positions,' he said. 'Yet 10 years on, there shouldn't be any more suspicion that opening an office is tantamount to establishing another power base.'
Mr Lee, who will turn 67 this month, began his political career as an appointed Legislative Council member in 1978. Amid heated debates on Hong Kong's future in the 1980s, he led a delegation to Beijing asking the central government to extend Britain's lease.
He served on the Executive Council from 1985 to 1992, and a year later he founded the Liberal Party. Unlike most pro-business politicians, he took the unprecedented step of running for a directly elected Legco seat in 1995 and succeeded.
