(EN) ‘Pan-democrats’ not showing good manners, respect, Tse says

[:en]Some lawmakers in the opposition camp remain troublemakers who do not abide by the rules as they have always been, said Tony Tse Wai-chuen, who has returned to the Legislative Council after a two-year absence via a by-election in March.

Discussing his impressions more half a year after his return, Tse said: “Individual ‘pan-democrats’ are continuing to make troubles like before because it is their role.

“On the whole, the opposition lawmakers do not show enough respect to the president of the Legislative Council and the chief executive. When she delivered her Policy Address on Oct 10, the ‘pan-democrats’ did not stand up when she arrived or when she left.”

Tse said this showed they lacked good manners. “Even though you don’t like them, you should show respect because of the official capacities they are holding,” he commented.

“You don’t have to agree with the government all the time. If you disagree, you should put up your argument in a constructive manner, striving to convince the government officials to accept your suggestions, instead of verbally abusing people who hold different views from you,” Tse added.

Talking about funding for the Lantau reclamation plan, Tse is sure that the opposition camp will obstruct and filibuster at meetings of the Finance Committee to delay the funding. Yet since the Finance Committee Procedure has been amended, the new version enables the committee chairman to exercise his powers to tackle disruptive behavior and proceed with the meeting more efficiently.

He described the “pan-democrats” in soccer terms: “They are always moving the goal posts to create an argument suitable to their own political convenience.” He also agrees with the observation that the ‘pan-democrats’ are “unsporting losers” because if they find they cannot win, they will cause troubles and abandon the game.

“Since the majority of the government’s funding proposals are more detailed and better prepared than before while officials answer questions well, this makes it more difficult for the opposition to find faults with and delay the proposals,” he said.

But Tse admitted some officials did not do a good job as they answered questions in a circuitous style. He suggested that officials should prepare well, tell the facts and respond in a straightforward manner. If they are not direct with their answers, people will think they are hiding something.

“For technical officials like architects and engineers, they should answer questions in layman’s terms so that everybody understands. If ordinary citizens also understand, they will easily find out whether the ‘pan-democrats’ are unreasonable and are filibustering,” he said.

Tse was first elected a lawmaker in the Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape constituency for the legislative term from 2012 to 2016. He lost in the 2016 general election by a small margin, due to the fact he and another pro-establishment candidate were both competing, leaving the other “pan-democratic” candidate to fish in troubled waters and clinch the seat by surprise from a three-horse race.

Since the elected candidate failed to subsequently take a proper LegCo oath, he was stripped off the seat after holding it for less than a year’s time, together with five other people who had not complied with the oath legislation when they were sworn in.

A by-election was arranged on March 11 this year to fill four out of the six vacant LegCo seats, with Tse the surveyor winning and securing a comeback to LegCo.

joseph@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 11/01/2018 page4)

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