Source:
https://scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1908101/legco-finance-committee-chair-cuts-pan-democrat-filibuster
Hong Kong

Legco finance committee chair cuts pan-democrat filibuster on bridge project: half of debate time wasted on ‘irrelevant issues’

Lawmaker Chan Kin-por said that of 30 hours of meetings, 15 were spent calling for quorum, citing procedural questions and scolding officials

Chairman of Legco Finance Committee Chan Kin-por attend Finance Committee Meeting at Legco Building in Tamar. SCMP/Edward Wong

Pro-government lawmaker Chan Kin-por, who chairs the Legislative Council finance committee, said he cut the pan-democrats’ filibuster against extra funding for a bridge linking Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai because much of the debate time had been spent on irrelevant questions.

Chan has been accused of acting in an “arbitrary” manner after he last week blocked pan-democrats’ filibuster by cutting the time for questions on the HK$5.4 billion extra funding request for the project. The funding request was approved amid chaos in Saturday’s meeting with four radicals trying to dash towards Chan’s seat in protest.

“Essentially they were not asking questions ...”

Chan said on Monday that he had the legal basis to cut the filibuster. He also said he had given enough time for debate, with a total of 30 hours of meetings held, but half of the time had been spent on “irrelevant” issues.

“The legislators had already asked many questions. But the most saddening thing is that 15 hours were used to call for a quorum, or to cite procedural questions, or even to scold officials,” Chan said during an RTHK talk show.

“Essentially they were not asking questions,” he said. “The questions asked were also repetitive and irrelevant.”

Chairman of the Legco Finance Committee Chan Kin-por attends Legco Public Works Subcommittee. Photo: Felix Wong
Chairman of the Legco Finance Committee Chan Kin-por attends Legco Public Works Subcommittee. Photo: Felix Wong

Chan also apologised for saying “yes” to other pro-government lawmakers moments before the funding request was taken to a vote. His move later led to accusations that he had violated his neutrality.

Chan explained that he was answering Christopher Cheung Wah-fung’s question on whether they were dealing with the funding request or an amendment. He said his intention was not to tell his colleagues to support the funding request.

Chan also said he “respected” the end-of-January deadline set by the government for the extra funding. He said any delay would also affect another controversial funding request for a cross-border high-speed rail project to be dealt with next.

“We have to trust the government that it cannot do anything if no decision is made now ... and that the price will be even higher if there is a delay,” he said.

However, Albert Chan Wai-yip, one of four pan-democrats who filibustered the funding request, said the finance committee chief was “very wrong”. He said Chan Kin-por had no power to cut the debate time and failed to chair the meeting in a fair manner by calling others to vote “yes”.

He said he would confer with his lawyers to decide whether to take the case to court.

Albert Chan also rebutted Chan Kin-por’s claims that the city would suffer losses from delays to the funding request.

“Passing it would probably cause even bigger losses,” said Albert Chan, who was speaking on the same talk show, citing workers’ safety and environmental issues at the sites.

Last week, media reports about problems at the construction sites, including damaged materials and six workers dying in accidents, provided pan-democrats with fresh ammunition to fire questions at officials in a Friday meeting.