It would be “discriminatory” to bar candidates who lost in last year’s opposition-free District Council election from joining three neighbourhood committees, home and youth affairs minister Alice Mak has said, after more than a hundred such people were appointed by the government to the committees.
Mak’s remark came after she appointed 2,999 members to three district-level committees – the Area Committees, the District Fight Crime Committees, and the District Fire Safety Committees – on Monday.
The 470 District Council members, who were chosen last December in polls that saw a record-low turnout under an overhauled system that slashed democratic representation, were also included in Monday’s appointments, according to a government statement.
“Under the improved district governance system and the reformed District Councils, the co-operation between the District Councils and ‘the three committees’ [is] much closer,” the statement read.
Speaking to reporters after a ceremony on Tuesday, Mak said that there were no laws stipulating that a person who lost in an election could no longer participate in district matters or community service.
“It seems discriminatory for someone to put forward such a proposal,” she said in Cantonese.
Asked whether pro-democracy candidates were considered “politically incorrect” and thus not appointed to the committees, Mak said committee appointments were made based on whether members were “patriots,” and whether they were familiar with district affairs and committed to serving the community.
According to local media, more than 100 candidates who lost in last year’s District Council race were appointed to the three committees, accounting for about 80 per cent of the candidates who lost.
Roundtable’s Mark Chong and Sam Ip of think tank Path of Democracy were among those appointed on Monday after losing in December’s polls. Henry Ma, Billy Li, and Koby Wong from New Prospect for Hong Kong were also appointed.
Independent candidate Muhammad Fakhrul Islam, who received the least votes in last year’s election, was appointed to the Yau Tsim Mong South Area Committee. TV host Adrianna Sung of the Liberal Party and Jeff Wong from the New People’s Party were also appointed to the committees.
As part of the overhaul announced last year, the number of seats chosen democratically by the public was slashed to around 20 per cent, with the rest chosen by the city’s leader and government-appointed committees.
Constituency boundaries were redrawn, the opposition were shut out, and each local council is to be chaired by a government official, similar to colonial-era arrangements. All candidates underwent national security vetting to ensure patriotism, whilst traditional democrats remained behind bars or in self-exile.
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