Pro-establishment lawmakers offered responses following Thursday’s vetoing of political reform bill and their walkout blunder during the voting in the Hong Kong legislature.
In a joint statement from the pro-establishment lawmakers after the voting yesterday, they reiterated their “firm support for the government motion”, adding they “deeply regret on the vote of the government motion.”
They criticised the pan-democrats for rejecting the bill and said those who voted against the reforms have to “bear all responsibilities”.
They also responded to their walkout blunder by stating that they “expressed sincere apologies to citizens who supported the government motion,” but added the bill was bound to be vetoed because the opposition to it amounted to more than one-third of all votes.
Lam Kin-fung: blunder caused by communication gap
Lam Kin-fung, who initiated the walkout, explained that they walked out of the chamber in order to “allow 15 minutes of time for honorable Lau [Wong-fat] to return in time to vote.” He said Lau was sick for the past few days and was unable to return to the chamber in time.
He added that the blunder was caused by a “communication gap”, which some legislators “did not join us in stepping out”.
Regina Ip: one person, one vote would have been good for governance
Regina Ip cried during a radio programme on Commercial Radio Friday morning. She said she genuinely believed “one person, one vote would be good for the governance of Hong Kong”.
James Tien: blunder occurred because “people are dumb”
James Tien, who did not walk out during the vote, also responded to the walkout blunder that happened on Thursday. He commented on Facebook that the blunder occurred because “people are just incurably dumb”.
He said during an RTHK programme Thursday evening that the decision to wait for Lau Wong-fat was “unnecessary” and “ridiculous”.
Starry Lee Wai-king: very, very sad and regretted for the blunder
Starry Lee Wai-king, chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong said she felt “very, very sad and regretted” the blunder during the same RTHK radio program. She also admitted they dealt with the situation “improperly”.
Leung Mei-fun: vetoing is unfortunate but expected
Leung Mei-fun from the Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong said that the vetoing of the political reform bill was “unfortunate but expected”.
Speaking to HKFP, she said that “pan-democrats could actually take the most benefit” if the bill was passed. She explained on the example of Basic Law Article 23, saying that “if pan-democrats do not want Article 23, they could exert pressure on the future CE candidates. The candidates would need to compete for their vote, and hence will need to consider their demands.”
She added this would have been “a step forward for the democratic process in Hong Kong”.
Tse Wai-chun: pro-establishment camp is ‘highly loyal but with poor skills’
Tse Wai-chun also said Friday morning after a show on DBC that he should bear responsibilities for the blunder that happened yesterday. He described the pro-establishment camp as “players who are highly loyal but with poor skills”, adding that he believed there were “serious problems” in the communication between legislators in the pro-establishment camp.
