Tu to put views of the people
VETERAN legislator Elsie Tu says her appointment as an adviser will not conflict with her role in the Legislative Council.
Mrs Tu said she had always been politically neutral and would continue to be so.
She said it was useful for people like her who had worked with the Hong Kong public for many years to become affairs advisers.
She said she would raise questions with which Hong Kong people were concerned and would try to get China and Hong Kong to better understand each other.
Mrs Tu announced her willingness to become an adviser on February 23 when the Legislative Council passed the first part of the electoral bill.
Mrs Tu said there had been rumours some time ago that she would be appointed, and a Xinhua (the New China News Agency) official had asked her whether she wanted to become a Hong Kong adviser a few days before her announcement.
Another legislator who became an adviser is Frederick Fung Kin-kee of the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood in Hong Kong (ADPL).
Mr Fung said that becoming an adviser would allow him to reflect Hong Kong people's views more directly.
Asked whether the appointment of ADPL members to China's political bodies would result in a loss of voter support and a split in the pro-democracy camp, Mr Fung said some members of the liberal camp had been on the Basic Law Drafting and Consultative Committees.
''It depends on what you say and what you do after you become members of bodies of the Chinese side, and Hong Kong people would make a judgment,'' he said.
''I just think we're in a different position to work for the interests of Hong Kong people.''
