Ng Leung-sing, a pro-government lawmaker representing the finance sector in LegCo, has said he will not run for chairmanship of the LegCo Finance Committee.
Speaking during a radio programme on Tuesday, Ng said that he’s passed up the opportunity because it would only deepen conflicts in LegCo. He was chairman of the Finance Committee for the 2013 to 2014 LegCo term.
He also said that the efficiency of the Finance Committee has been affected by filibusters often waged in protest against the Chief Executive without announcing them in advance.
He said no lawmaker would be able to iron out these problems as a chairperson.
Last week, the incumbent chairman, Tommy Cheung Yu-yan of the Liberal Party decided he would not seek another term, and would instead run for the House Committee. He told local media the pro-Beijing camp supported Ng and wanted him to run again as chairman of the Finance Committee.
Ng had previously come under fire for his handling of meetings.
In a Finance Committee meeting in June 2014, Ng forced a vote on the $340 million request for preliminary funding of the controversial North East New Territories development plan.
The voting occurred when pan-democrat lawmakers left their seats in protest after Ng told lawmakers to stop asking questions, which effectively ended discussion on more than 10,000 amendments to the bill and halted the filibuster for the development plan.
The controversial funding was passed by 29 to 2 as the pan-democrats were unable to vote.
Labour Party lawmaker Lee Chuek-yan said the voting was illegitimate after the meeting, while lawmaker Raymond Wong Yuk-man filed a judicial review to overrule the results in June this year.
Ng was a lawmaker from 1998 to 2004, and was reelected in 2012.
The Finance Committee is responsible for scrutinising and approving public expenditure proposals put forward by the government.
