It has become a Legislative Council tradition. For the fourth time since Donald Tsang Yam-kuen took office as chief executive, lawmakers refused to thank him for his policy address. Some legislators have even started questioning the necessity of tabling a motion of thanks for the annual policy blueprint, suggesting it would be enough for the legislature to acknowledge it. Thirty-six votes backed the motion, from pro-government lawmakers and pan-democrat Joseph Lee Kok-long, outnumbering the 21 opposition votes cast by the pan-democrats. However, it was still defeated because under Legco's split vote-counting system, the motion had to secure a simple majority in both the functional and geographical constituencies to pass. It was Tsang's sixth policy address. Only two motions of thanks, in 2007 and 2008, have been passed since he assumed office in 2005. Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong chairman Tam Yiu-chung suggested that instead of tabling a motion of thanks - a tradition inherited from the colonial era - in future Legco could just have a motion to acknowledge it had received the blueprint. 'Some people don't understand that voting for the motion of thanks does not mean legislators accept everything in the policy address. It is only a courtesy practice,' he said. All five amendments tabled by the pan-democrats, calling for legislation to eradicate functional constituency seats on Legco and appointed seats on the District Council, and further measures to alleviate poverty, were defeated. During the three-day debate on the motion, which took more than 30 hours, lawmakers criticised the government for refusing to resume building Home Ownership Scheme flats, and expressed concern over surging property prices and the wide wealth gap in the city. 'The chief executive called on the business sector to stop relying on functional constituencies to protect their interests ... But if the government does not take any action to eliminate these political privileges, this will just remain empty talk,' Civic Party vice-chairman Alan Leong Kah-kit said in yesterday's debate. Even pro-government legislator Li Fung-ying, who voted for the motion, voiced discontent over the political system. 'Ministers and undersecretaries often evade political accountability by leaving the responsibility to explain policies to civil servants,' she said, in rebuttal of Tsang's statement in the address that the political appointment system had helped improve governance. Abraham Razack, representative for the real estate and construction sector, slammed the government for maintaining a high land price policy, saying the ultimate responsibility for the problem of 'inflated flats' lay not with developers, but with the administration. This year's motion of thanks was vetoed amid recent tension between the executive and the legislature, triggered by a dispute over Legco's power to repeal subsidiary legislation when the government sought to turn a five-hectare country park site in Sai Kung into a landfill. Appealing for support for the motion, Chief Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen pledged to maintain close communications with lawmakers and listen to them. 'It is nothing new for the executive and the legislature to hold different legal views, like the government and Legco have different opinions on policies,' he said. 'I believe the most important thing is that both sides resolve the discrepancies rationally and pragmatically.' He declined to comment on the defeat of the motion of thanks. Rejecting an amendment tabled by Democratic Party chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan, Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Stephen Lam Sui-lung said the government would not abolish ex-officio seats on District Councils, which were occupied by elected rural village representatives. Secretary for the Civil Service Denise Yue Chung-yee said her bureau would publish guidelines on the succession plans of governmental department heads later this year.
