Lawmaker Wong Yuk-man in coughing row over Legco oath
With rowdiness and coughs that cut out key words, taking of oath was far from dignified
The swearing-in ceremony for legislators is supposed to be a solemn event marked by tradition.
But strategic coughing, shouted slogans and a call for "comrades" to strive for a successful revolution punctuated a day packed with rhetoric and gimmicks yesterday.
Three lawmakers from the radical pan-democratic People Power group took turns showing their flair for the dramatic with their own versions of the legislator's oath of office.
On a day that was also the anniversary of the 1911 revolution, Albert Chan Wai-yip carried a portrait of Dr Sun Yat-sen, known as the father of modern China, in with him.
Before and after he took his oath, he chanted slogans calling for power to the people. Chan read the oath in a loud voice, but deliberately lowered his voice for the word "republic" when pledging allegiance to the "Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China".
Wong Yuk-man, who represents Kowloon West, coughed when he read some key words of the oath.