Wong Yuk-man promises revenge on Hong Kong Chief Executive CY Leung
Outgoing lawmaker says Leung went ahead with prosecuting him over throwing a glass in Legco despite being advised against it
“[Leung] is happy that I cannot be a lawmaker any more but he shouldn’t be too happy because I will follow him till death,” Wong told reporters, following his first court appearance just days after losing his seat in Sunday’s polls.
The veteran politician said that one need not seek revenge over the smallest of grievances, but to attain justice, one must return an eye for an eye.
One possible move, he suggested, would be to launch a private prosecution against Leung over the payment of HK$50 million from Australian engineering firm UGL.
Earlier in the day, Wong read out a third of his 150-page closing submission at the Eastern Court, where he is on trial for common assault for allegedly hurling a glass at Leung during a meeting on July 3, 2014.
Wong told magistrate Chu Chung-keung the incident was discussed time and again within the government, according to an insider source whom he would not name in court.
“[Leung] received legal advice that there was insufficient evidence, and that the case was politically inappropriate for prosecution,” he said. “But these views were not music to his ears.”
He argued the chief executive was willing to risk embarrassment in giving court testimony for the first time in Hong Kong’s history because Leung wanted to place him “in mortal danger for being an eyesore”.
The lawmaker’s closing speech was delivered before a full house of his supporters, many of them in yellow and black T-shirts from his party, the Proletariat Political Institute.
They chuckled and laughed out loud as Wong regularly turned to face them, punctuating his speech with animated recitals of the trial’s transcript.
He argued his case was one of selective prosecution as many lawmakers had thrown objects at senior government officials, but he was the first to be prosecuted.
The culture, he said, was introduced in Legco when he was first elected in 2008. That year saw him throwing bananas at then chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen as the lawmaker was dissatisfied with the policy address’ proposals on Old Age Allowance.
Wong said many lawmakers, such as Leung Kwok-hung and Helena Wong Pik-wan, had since followed suit, throwing water bottles, straw hats and prop hammers.
Such behaviour should not be interfered with by another branch of government as they are normal within the legislature, Wong said.
He also questioned whether an incumbent chief executive, vested with the highest power in Hong Kong, should testify in court when other jurisdictions, such as Australia, stipulate that governors and heads of state should not be compelled to give evidence.
