Hong Kong’s Central and Western District Council bans Wong Siu Hing (small picture) and other police representatives from attending a meeting, Oct. 4, 2020.
Since the majority of the local district councils in Hong Kong are dominated by pan-democrats, the relationship between the officials and the district councils has become increasingly tense, with officials leaving the meeting and secretariat staff refusing to serve the district councils from time to time. Recently, the Central and Western District Council took the initiative to expel the police representatives who had left the meeting on their own, which made the struggle between the two sides even more heated.
After the handover of Hong Kong to China, under the influence of the appointment system, the District Councils were gradually dominated by the pro-establishment camp, and the relationship between the District Councils and the officials of the Home Affairs Department, who were responsible for providing secretarial services, was harmonious. The cutbacks were followed by walkouts during DC discussions of individual issues when officials allegedly overstepped the DC’s functions. According to incomplete statistics, in the first eight months of this year, officials walked out of the meetings more than thirty times. The issues discussed at the walkout included police violence and the June 4 memorial.
Members of the District Council, on the other hand, fought back by continuing the meeting in the absence of secretarial services, applying for judicial review of the alleged violation of the District Council Ordinance by officials not providing secretarial services, and filing a complaint with the Ombudsman, etc. The Central and Western District Council even requested the police representatives, who had been banned from attending the meeting by a resolution, to leave the meeting at its meeting on June 30 last month.
According to the data, on May 28, when the Central and Western District Council discussed the redevelopment plan of the Western Police Station at its meeting, the District Council members questioned the excessive violence and indiscriminate arrests by the police, and moved to demolish the Western Police Station, Western District Commander Huang Shaoqing and Police Community Relations Officer Yu Gang repeatedly refuted, saying that the statements of the District Council members were inaccurate and deliberately slandered the police force. The Central and Western District Council passed a temporary motion on the same day, saying that the two of them “repeatedly violated the District Council meeting rules and disrespected the District Council, such as repeatedly leaving the meeting by themselves and forcing themselves to speak without the consent of the chairman”, and forbade them to attend the District Council meeting again. The pan-democratic council members pointed out that according to the Standing Order 15 of the Central and Western District Council meeting, “if the actions of the person attending or observing the meeting interfere with the normal progress of the meeting”, the chairman can warn him/her; if the warning fails, the chairman can order him/her to leave the meeting; therefore, the council can request the police to send other suitable persons to attend the meeting.
By September 30, one of the agendas of the Central and Western District Council was “to condemn the police for neglecting their duties and absenting themselves from the District Council meeting; to request the police to fulfill their duties, attend the District Council meeting on time, answer questions and listen to the opinions of the council members”, the police continued to send Wong Siu Hing and Yu Kong to attend the meeting as representatives of the police.
The new government has already issued a new law in August, and the new government has already issued a new law in August. It was emphasized that the Hong Kong government had issued new guidelines in August, implying that the motion in May was invalid, and dodged the question of whether the police would send other representatives to attend the meeting, only emphasizing that both sides should respect each other and hope to work together in a peaceful and rational atmosphere for the well-being of the community.
In response to the change in the cooperative relationship between the DCs and District Offices, the Hong Kong government issued new internal guidelines in mid-August, listing the circumstances under which officials may or must leave the meeting, including the use of offensive language by DC members against officials present, and the display of slogans or songs that violate “One Country, Two Systems” and the Hong Kong National Security Law.
For example, in July, when the Southern District Council requested the police to provide the number of arrests involving mentally incapacitated persons, the District Officer walked out of the meeting on the grounds that the matter was beyond the District Council’s functions.
The District Council advises the Hong Kong Government on district administration, mainly on the provision of public facilities and services within the district, and undertakes environmental improvement, recreation and culture, and community affairs or activities within the district, subject to the availability of government funding. However, in the past, the Hong Kong Government has sought the support of the District Council Chairman on some territory-wide or political issues, such as “co-location of immigration and customs facilities”.
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