Hong Kong councillor warned for refusing to help Yuen Long residents who support national security law
- Government issues caution to Yuen Long politician saying his remarks could violate code of conduct
- Lam Chun said he would not help members of the public who ‘support the legislation for Article 23’
A district councillor in Hong Kong who publicly declared his refusal to help residents endorsing national security legislation has been warned he could be in breach of rules governing politicians’ conduct.
Lam Chun, 27, one of the many political novices to win a seat in the elections last November, is the fourth councillor cautioned by the government since taking office in January.
Riding on the momentum of months of the anti-government protests that erupted in Hong Kong last summer, the pro-democracy camp captured an unprecedented 392 of 452 seats, to control 17 out of 18 district councils in a crushing defeat for pro-establishment parties.
Writing on his Facebook page on March 15, Lam Chun, an independent representing Shui Wah constituency in Yuen Long, said he would not help members of the public who “support the legislation for Article 23”, adding his pledge would last forever “regardless the change of public opinion or under ‘white terror’”.
The Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, stipulates the city must enact its own national security law to “prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People’s Government”.
A proposal to implement the legislation was shelved in 2003 after tens of thousands of Hongkongers took to the streets in protest.
Lam Chun’s post echoed the same pledge made by another district councillor Wong Chun-yeung, who represents Tung Chung South in the Islands district.
Wong, 25, also an independent and a newly elected councillor, received the same warning letter last month.