'A Beijing official told me to stop filibusters,' Hong Kong Legco chief reveals
Council president says he rejected demand from central government figure to stop filibusters and stressed he was bound by rules
A central government official has urged Legislative Council president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing to manage the chamber "well" - and clamp down on the filibuster campaign staged as part of the pan-democrats' protest against Beijing's restrictive electoral reform framework.
But Tsang - who did not reveal the identity of the official - said he instantly rejected the demand because as president he was bound by Legco rules.
"An official from the central government has told me to manage Legco well and I should stop the filibusters when it is appropriate," he told a radio programme yesterday.
"But I told that official I cannot stop [filibusters] whenever I deem it appropriate because I can only act in accordance with the Legco rules of procedure."
Tsang added the Basic Law, the city's mini-constitution, entitles the Legco to decide its own rules of procedure - and he believed the central government would not take the political risk of interfering with the legislature.
"The central government has been very cautious [about] when it uses its power to reinterpret the Basic Law. And I don't think the current situation would make Beijing revise the Basic Law [to interfere in Legco affairs]," he said.
However, the revelation has alarmed the pro-democracy camp.
Labour Party chairman Lee Cheuk-yan said "the claw [Beijing] has started to scratch deeper" into Legco and would undermine the city's autonomy.
"Tsang may be firm enough to fend off the interference, but I am not sure whether the next president could do the same," Lee said. Tsang has dropped hints that he might not run for re-election next year.
Tsang's revelation about filibusters came after Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying hit out earlier in the week at pan-democrat attempts to block funding for a proposed innovation and technology bureau.
On electoral reform, Tsang yesterday said scrapping functional constituencies in exchange for pan-democrats backing reform for the 2017 chief executive election could cost the government the support of its allies.
He added Legco electoral reform could be more controversial than universal suffrage in 2017. "From my understanding, the business sector accepts universal suffrage for the chief executive, but they can't accept all functional constituency seats being abolished in Legco," said Tsang.
The idea of scrapping trade-based seats in Legco in 2020 in exchange for pan-democrat support for 2017 electoral reform was floated by Civic Party lawmaker Ronny Tong Ka-wah last month. But the suggestion received lukewarm responses both from government officials and his allies in the pro-democracy camp.
Tsang added neither the central nor Hong Kong governments could make promises on Legco electoral reform without consulting the public.
The National People's Congress Standing Committee ruled in 2007 that all lawmakers may be elected by universal suffrage in 2020 after the chief executive has been elected by 'one man, one vote' in 2017.
Tsang said, however, that universal suffrage for the Legco elections did not necessarily entail scrapping all functional constituency seats.
They could be retained "by restructuring the allocation of seats in the functional constituencies and expanding their voter bases," Tsang said, although he added it would be difficult to make sure all lawmakers were elected by a similar-sized electorate.
Meanwhile, the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Raymond Tam Chi-yuen said he met the Hong Kong Basic Law Committee chairman Li Fei in Beijing yesterday to discuss electoral reform. However, Tam remained tight-lipped about the details of the meeting.
