Chinese University says no opportunity given to scrutinise controversial Hong Kong private member’s bill to change council’s composition
- Controversial private member’s bill from lawmaker Tommy Cheung designed to cut size of university’s council to get first reading in Legco on Thursday
- Cheung insists he has shown the bill to council members since last November and heard no objections
Chinese University has said it has not had the opportunity to properly consider a bill designed to restructure its governing body after a lawmaker who introduced the proposal said he had heard no objection from its members.
Tommy Cheung Yu-yan, a Liberal Party Legislative Council and Executive Council member who advises Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, said on Wednesday he had reached a consensus with the city leader to push ahead with an overhaul of the body.
But the university said the council had not been given a final draft of the private bill before it reached Legco.
“CUHK does not have a position on the private members bill as it has not been formally given the opportunity to consider it,” a spokeswoman said.
She added the text of the lawmakers’ bill “was not submitted to the council for discussion prior to it being gazetted” earlier this month.
“The university council considered a task force report at its April meeting and the report determined that the 2016 model remained fit for purpose,” the spokeswoman said.
Cheung’s bill, if approved, would result in the downsizing of the council from 55 to 34 members and the ratio of staff members to external representatives would drop from about 1:1 to 1:2.
It also has a provision to raise the voting threshold for the appointment of the university vice-chancellor from two-thirds to three-quarters of the council votes.
The task force proposal recommended downsizing the council to 29, with internal members holding 11 seats and external ones 18 places.
The task force was formed by the university council in the wake of the controversial proposal by Cheung, backed by fellow lawmakers Bill Tang Ka-piu and Edward Lau Kwok-fan, who also sit on the body.
Cheung told reporters on Wednesday that he had been showing the proposal to the university council since last November and maintained that he had not heard any opposition.
“If you ask the council, there’s no one who doesn’t know what we’re doing unless they don’t want to read it,” Cheung said. “I’m absolutely sure that I haven’t heard anyone objecting.”
University trio slam request to pay cost of Hong Kong private member’s bill
But he admitted the university council had not vetted the bill clause by clause.
Cheung maintained if the restructuring process was left to the council it would take up to five years to materialise, but the use of a private member’s bill would cut the time to one year.
He insisted the bill was designed in line with the report’s recommendations, but some council members have made their disagreement clear.
Three council members, in an open letter released last week, slammed the lawmakers’ proposal, which would retain three Legco representatives in the scaled down council, but reduce the number of those drawn from other areas.
The task force’s consultation also showed strong disapproval of the lawmakers’ plan.
“It is not accurate to say nobody has opposed their proposal,” he said.
Sources familiar with the situation told the Post that the council had tried to convene a special meeting next month in response to a request from the letter writers to discuss Cheung’s bill.
One of the sources said if Legco decided to set up a bill committee to examine the proposal, others might be able to express their views and influence the outcome of the restructuring.
Hong Kong lawmaker wants university to cover costs of private bid to revamp council
The trio of lawmakers has also asked the university to reimburse them about HK$750,000 (US$95,754) to cover the costs of gazetting the bill as part of the required legislation process.
Cheung said a separate fee for the introduction of a private member’s bill was waived by the authorities.
The chief secretary for administration can cancel the fee if a bill “facilitates a government measure.”
Cheung added Lee had told him the administration would be unable to prioritise changes at the university council because of a busy schedule of legislation proposals.
“The only, fastest way was for us to work on this private bill instead of going through the government,” he said.
Lee has given his consent to the private member’s bill in line with the Basic Law, the city’s mini constitution, which allows lawmakers to introduce proposed legislation not related to public spending, political structure or government operations.
Lee said last Tuesday that permission was given “in accordance with the laid-down procedures” and that Legco would deal with the bill according to “such rules and procedures”.
The three lawmakers’ move was seen as the pro-establishment bloc’s response to the controversial reappointment of Professor Rocky Tuan Sung-chi, who will stay on as university president until 2026.
