Editorial | A welcome display of power as Hong Kong lawmakers check government funds request
- Scrutinising policies and questioning funding requests can help a Legislative Council full of ‘patriots’ shed the rubber stamp impression and act more as a check and balance on government
The passage of the domestic national security law freed up officials and lawmakers to focus on the city’s economic development. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has rightly pledged “full attention” to developing a “vibrant economy and a caring community”.
Infrastructure is fundamental to that goal. But within a day the transport authorities abruptly withdrew a HK$7.16 billion major highway funding request to the legislature on the eve of discussion of the proposal in Legco’s Finance Committee.
The reason given was the need to provide more information to lawmakers who questioned a blowout in costs from HK$1.1 billion in 2006 and the lack of a completion timetable. Otherwise, lawmakers’ approval of the proposal was problematic, given the likely numbers of votes against and abstentions.
Rejection would have been an embarrassment that a results-oriented government could do without.
More importantly, however, it showed that the Legislative Council cannot be assumed to have become a rubber stamp for the government.
There have been understandable concerns about that ever since membership was confined to “patriots” under electoral reforms imposed by Beijing, prompting questions at the time whether the authorities would be able to push bills through Legco without critical scrutiny.
