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Hong Kong Legco election candidates up close: Gary Wong and Joseph Chan
‘Help young Hong Kong protesters convicted of crimes reintegrate into society’: call by Legco poll hopeful despite pro-Beijing party’s tough stance
- Joseph Chan, 25, the youngest candidate in the coming political race, champions ‘becoming a bridge to link resources’ in Post’s three-part video series
- Gary Wong, another aspirant vying for Election Committee constituency seat with Chan, believes democracy is just a means, with the end being to fix problems
The youngest candidate in Hong Kong’s coming legislative poll has pledged to support measures to help young people convicted of protest-related crimes integrate back into society if elected, despite his pro-Beijing party’s heavy condemnation of their acts.
Gary Wong Chi-him, a 38-year-old director of public affairs and marketing who is vying for a seat in the Election Committee constituency alongside Chan, said during the same segment that he would seek to engage more young people in politics in an attempt to rebuild trust with youth if voted in.
But both hopefuls ruled out pardoning convicted protesters such as minors, which some moderate candidates had suggested.
Chan argued doing so would send off “a very bad signal” that committing a crime was acceptable, with Wong adding: “We have to stick to the law. The success of Hong Kong comes with the rule of law.”
Among the 10,264 people arrested for protest-related crimes as of July, more than 4,000 were students, with 2,684 being prosecuted.
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Hong Kong Legco election candidates up close: Regina Ip, Allan Zeman and Simon Lee
Chan, a central committee member of the DAB and the president of the Hong Kong Youth Association, said that when seeking support from the 1,488 voters making up the Election Committee, many had indicated a willingness to help convicted young people integrate back into society.
“Many are willing to help the young people. But they don’t know how to do this. There are lots of resources … That’s a very important job in the future [for me to link the resources],” said Chan, himself an Election Committee member.
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Hong Kong Legco election candidates up close: Alice Mak and Mike Rowse
Under Beijing’s overhaul of the city’s electoral system to ensure only “patriots” held power, the committee has been given powers beyond selecting the chief executive. It is now responsible for sending 40 representatives to the Legislative Council, expanded from 70 members to 90.
A total of 51 Beijing loyalists, including incumbents and businessmen from companies affiliated with mainland China, are vying for seats. Chan and Wong said they had attended more than 60 meetings in the past month and were able to reach some 1,000 voters.
Wong, a board member of the semi-official think tank Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies and a member of the Equal Opportunities Commission, pledged to rebuild trust with the young people by regularly opening up his office and involving them in politics.
“[We can] do some social experiments together, explore how to tackle issues on the ground,” he said. “[The crux] is whether we have sufficient room for young people to learn about politics and practise their political skills.”
In 2015, the opposition bloc voted down a Beijing-decreed electoral reform package which they said involved “unreasonable screening” that went against the central government’s promise of granting the city universal suffrage.
In the following year, Wong, among dozens of other candidates running for the legislative race, pledged to push for political reforms as a candidate from the Path of Democracy, a centrist think tank which he quit two years ago.
Asked whether they would advocate relaunching political reforms in the Legco term which starts in January, both candidates did not see it as a priority.
“We need to give time and patience to see whether the system works. At the end of the day, democracy is a means but not the end. The end is to fix problems,” Wong said.
