Avery Ng
The vice-chairman of the League of Social Democrats (LSD), Avery Ng has been a regular, controversial presence at pro-democracy protests since getting into politics in 2009. He sensationally surrendered his foreign citizenship in order to run in the 2012 Legislative Council election. He talks to Andrea Lo about Beijing’s influence on Hong Kong politics, the future of democracy—and why Long Hair isn’t his role model.
I never intended to be a politician, but somehow over the past three years I moved towards that direction, and here I am today. But, you know, it’s an interesting path. It’s a path that is unusual, but at the same time we do sacrifice a lot personally.
I had been traveling around the globe and only became semi-permanently based in Hong Kong in 2006. I had always been interested, or aware, of Hong Kong’s political environment.
Nobody understands Hong Kong politics really, not even me. It’s all very blurry and fluffy; everybody is sort of talking about the same thing—but not quite.
In order to run in the election last year I had to give up my Australian and New Zealand citizenships, which I personally don’t see as a big deal: but you see how unfair the system is in Hong Kong.
I identify myself as a world citizen, and I can live anywhere. I didn’t expect to win in last year’s Legco election and it’s only the first step for me anyway.
It’s strange—you have the right to vote, but you might not have the right to run. Out of the 30 seats in the functional constituency, only 12 of them are allowed to have foreign passports. The whole thing is weird and flawed.
There is no safety net. You risk everything—your livelihood—just to participate in politics. The whole system was essentially built to try to discourage people from participation.