Motion under Article 73(9) of the Basic Law(2013/1/9)

Deputy President, today is the first Legislative Council meeting in the year 2013. As we step into a new year, we all look ahead and plan for the future. The public attention is also drawn on the Policy Address to be delivered soon, in the hope that it will bring new prospects to Hong Kong. Regrettably, at this first meeting in the new year, the Legislative
Council does not look ahead but continues to entangle itself in the hubbub of the incident that has troubled us for half a year. 

Deputy President, although I am not a legal professional, I also understand that the impeachment of the Chief Executive is a very solemn power conferred upon the Legislative Council by the Basic Law and it is also a very serious charge against the Chief Executive. Hence this mechanism can never be lightly activated unless there is full and concrete justification; otherwise it is a disrespect for the Legislative Council and the Chief Executive and an irresponsible act to the community.

Simply speaking, before the impeachment mechanism is activated, it must be proven that the Chief Executive has committed serious breach of law or dereliction of duty. In respect of the unauthorized building works (UBWs) issue involving the Chief Executive, first of all, having UBWs is totally unrelated to the duty of the Chief Executive and cannot be considered as "serious dereliction of duty"; besides, although having UBWs is a violation of certain government regulations, the UBWs in question did not pose any safety problems to the building involved and some of the works had being dealt with, and the argument of "serious breach of law" is indeed arguable. Mr Ronny TONG also had reservations at first as having UBWs was not a serious crime and the UBWs issue had been there before the Chief Executive assumed the office. Hence this impeachment lacks legal justification.

Deputy President, the breach of law and dereliction of duty as stated in the original motion were mainly about the Chief Executive giving false statements and answers to this Council. In this connection, Mr Albert HO and Mr LEUNG Kwok-hung had respectively lodged an election petition and applied for judicial review earlier, accusing Mr LEUNG of giving false statements but both of them had lost the lawsuit. The Court of First Instance ruled that the election petition lacked reasonable arguability. Afterwards, the Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood and the People Power complained to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) that Mr LEUNG was suspected of giving false statements and in the end ICAC halted the investigation due to insufficient evidence.

The Court's judgment and ICAC's investigation both show that there is insufficient evidence in respect of the accusation about Mr LEUNG making false statements, let alone the establishment of the accusation about his serious breach of law or dereliction of duty. The Court and ICAC are both respected for their high credibility and I hope that everyone will respect their decisions and the spirit of the rule of law in Hong Kong.

Deputy President, the public expect the Legislative Council to effectively monitor the governance of the Government but not to paralyse the Government's operation. The Christmas Message delivered late last year by Reverend Paul KWONG, the Archbishop of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui had stimulated our thoughts. Reverend KWONG pointed out that for most of the past year, Hong Kong society had left people feeling disgusted; all levels of society had been mired in mutual distrust and disrespect. He also urged the people to stop and ponder whether there were worthwhile and meaningful matters to attend to rather than "rubbing salt into the wound" on some controversial issues.

There are many more important problems that need to be handled expeditiously by the Government. A survey conducted by a newspaper earlier found that, two thirds of the people interviewed hoped that the Government would handle the livelihood issues more expeditiously and one third of the people hoped that it would give priority to handling the housing problem in the year ahead. On the contrary, those who wished to have the political problems addressed first only represented 11%. From this we can see that no matter how loud the cry on political issues is, the biggest aspiration of society is the improvement of people's livelihood.

Looking around us, many countries had held elections for their leaders last year, and no matter how heated the arguments among the different camps were during the elections, people have shifted their focus back onto the livelihood issues after the election. Even though the Republicans and the Democrats of the United States had great political differences between them, they could still compromise in order to defuse the crisis of the financial cliff. Can Hong Kong follow this global trend and can the various camps set aside their political prejudice and accord top priority to the livelihood issues?

Some may blame the problems of Hong Kong on the absence of direct election and wishfully think that all problems will be readily solved by changing the head of the Government. Unfortunately, the fact is not so. We can look at Japan. Japan has changed its Prime Minister almost every year over the past seven years, but none of the reforms initiated have been carried through, leading to political instability and the continued decline of its economy. Deputy President, usually people hold processions and rallies to express their discontent. However, from late last year to the New Year Day this year, some pro-Government groups have joined the processions, which they rarely did so in the past. Their aspiration is simple, that is, the community should discontinue blowing up the Chief Executive's UBWs issues and stop the various acts of hindering the governance of the Government, so that the Government can concentrate on addressing the people's livelihood issues. I believe that this is not only their aspiration but also the biggest hope of many people for the new year.

With these remarks, Deputy President, I oppose the motion of impeachment.