A former member of China’s top legislative body has claimed that Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying did indeed pressure an airline staff member during an incident where his daughter accidentally left luggage in a restricted area.
David Chu Yu-lin also claimed that an airline staffer cried when dealing with Leung. Chu is a former National People’s Congress member who attended a demonstration at the airport on Sunday.
Over 2,000 people took part in the rally. The chief executive stands accused of misusing his privilege in an alleged breach of aviation safety rules after he spoke to airline staff about retrieving his daughter Chung-yan’s bag. Leung admitted engaging in a phone call with airline staff, but denied any wrongdoing.
He urged the public to continue following up with the incident: “I do not want anyone else to cry after speaking on the phone with the privileged.”
Chu claimed that he heard that Cathay Pacific – the airline involved in the incident – suggested sending the lost luggage to Stanford University, Leung Chung-yan’s destination. However, the idea was rejected.
“Stanford University is very close to the airport, and [he] rejected that – what is it if not exercising privilege?” Chu said.
Chu also claimed that the airline instructed five or six staff members not speak about the incident and that it was a case of “white terror”.
“I hope we can find the source of the abuse of power, then eliminate that source,” Chu said.
During a Commercial Radio show on Monday, Chu revealed that the staff member he spoke to was not the one who took the phone call with Leung, but “someone around the staff member involved”, whom he said he coincidentally was in contact with last Saturday.
“If a girl jumped the queue and told me ‘my dad is someone’, I would tell her: ‘go to hell’,” Chu said.
“If her dad calls me later, I will tell her dad: ‘go to hell’,” he added. “If he doesn’t go to hell, I will help him to do so.”
Chu said that he attended of his own accord, and not simply because he wanted to attack Leung Chun-ying.
“I am not interested in singling him out – Leung Chun-ying is not qualified for me to attack him,” Chu said. “I am in opposition of abusing power, because it broke the principle of equality.”
A government spokesman said after the Sunday protest that the bag of Leung’s daughter had undergone a thorough security check and aviation safety was not affected by the incident.
