But more than halfway into the first four-year term of the revamped legislature, some experts and politicians have highlighted challenges beneath that calm: a perceived weakening of Legco’s check-and-balance function, declining public interest in the business of the legislature and lawmakers’ persistent difficulty in connecting with residents.
Lau Siu-kai, long a pro-establishment commentator on political affairs in the city, said the lawmakers elected under the “patriots-only” system were still exploring how to strike the right balance.
A consultant at the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, a semi-official think tank, he said: “Now that they have moved away from confrontation, they are still looking into how to keep the government in check, while also cooperating with it. But the line remains unclear to all.”
Doubts despite efficiency, cooperation
The electoral overhaul slashed the number of directly elected seats – previously the opposition stronghold – from 35 to 20 even as the legislature was expanded to 90 members.
Most lawmakers were picked either by trade-based functional constituencies or a powerful committee packed with Beijing-friendly members.
All election hopefuls had to be vetted first by officials to confirm their “patriotism”.
The current slate of lawmakers, the first to be elected after the revamp, have delivered a calm new way of working, with no drama, unpleasantness or strategies to resist or block bills and government policies.
Efficiency and cooperation have become hallmarks of the new Legco.
Commonly referred to as Article 23 of the Basic Law mini-constitution, the domestic national security law was a constitutional responsibility of Hong Kong, but had been delayed for 21 years since it was first proposed.
This year, the authorities needed only 50 days from launching a public consultation exercise for the bill to writing it into law. That included 10 hours to be approved by lawmakers.
Check-and-balance role ‘weakened’
Efficiency aside, a question being asked is whether Legco’s check-and-balance function has been weakened.
Lawmaker Paul Tse Wai-chun told the Post: “Hong Kong’s political climate is now extremely executive-led. Lawmakers’ proposals diverging from government positions often stand little chance in the legislature.”
A lawyer elected through the Election Committee constituency, Tse has been described by some internet users as “playing an opposition role” in Legco. He was the first lawmaker to urge the legislature to restore its function of monitoring the government effectively.
Lee warned against attempts to stir up conflict, saying it was “dangerous and inappropriate” for the government and lawmakers to not work together and instead promote negative information at a time when the city was “governed by patriots”.
Tse told the Post that lawmakers were “persuaded” to stand alongside the government to avoid conflicts emerging from the legislature, but did not say where the persuasion came from.
“The increased efficiency due to the absence of filibusters and clashes is positive. The council’s ability to effectively monitor the government, however, remains in doubt,” he said.
The new efficiency is reflected in the speed with which business has been done at Legco, which is now on its summer recess, with only 1½ years of its term left.
A check by the Post showed there was minimal opposition to bills and budget blueprints moved by the government in the first seven months of this year.
Between January and July, lawmakers approved 25 bills with only one – the Dutiable Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2024, which increases duty rates of various types of tobacco products – opposed by four lawmakers.
Twenty-two of the approved bills were cleared by just a show of hands. Only three required a formal vote, which would allow the public to find out the position taken by individual lawmakers. A formal vote is carried out only if a lawmaker requests it.
The three were the Article 23 legislation, the bill on increasing rates on tobacco products and the Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse Bill, which requires those in 25 professions to report suspected cases of serious harm to children.
The amended Social Workers Registration Ordinance, which allows the revamped social worker regulator to permanently disqualify those convicted of national security offences and certain other crimes, proved controversial when seven of the board’s eight elected members, including chairman Ng Yut-ming, resigned before the bill went before Legco for the final time on July 3.
They did not give reasons, but some felt they were protesting against the changes. Still, the bill was cleared with only a show of hands.
Legco’s Finance Committee also worked swiftly, approving 49 government funding applications for a combined HK$207.3 billion (US$26.5 billion) in seven months. That surpassed the full-year totals of HK$143 billion in 2023 and HK$177.5 billion in 2022.
A Post analysis of questions tabled by lawmakers found that three who were not directly elected did not ask any official oral or written questions.
There were no questions from So Cheung-wing and Louis Loong Hon-biu in at least the past 12 months, and none from Tommy Cheung Yu-yan in the past seven months.
All three said they had done their job monitoring the government in other ways.
Loong, representing the real estate and construction sector, said he was on the Public Accounts Committee which often held closed-door meetings, resulting in limited media exposure.
The latest round of committee work lasted more than 12 weeks, including six public hearings that took 18 hours, and four meetings and two briefings.
“While not recorded in Legco statistics, I personally conducted a 40-minute questioning session at one meeting, which I believe left a strong, perhaps unwelcome, impression on the responding officials,” he added.
Lawmaker So, elected through the Election Committee constituency, did not table any questions in 18 months.
“I never ask about fields where I lack expertise. I refrain from questioning ongoing government work that’s showing initial progress,” he said.
So, a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the country’s top political advisory body, added that he drafted seven or eight questions but they were already raised by other lawmakers.
City leader Lee has said he had incorporated constructive suggestions and input from Legco members into his annual policy addresses in 2022 and last year.
‘Yes men’, or working behind closed doors?
Associate Professor Kenneth Chan Ka-lok, of Baptist University’s department of government and international studies, said: “The role of lawmakers has become increasingly easy these days – just please the political masters by standing side-by-side with them, like minions.”
A member of the now-disbanded Civic Party and a lawmaker from 2012 to 2016, he said the way the current Legco approved business was telling.
Voting by a show of hands, he said, was “an impersonal process that obscures lawmakers’ decisions and reasoning from public scrutiny”.
He added that a division vote, on the other hand, had long been a way to ensure public accountability, as residents could hold lawmakers accountable if any decisions went wrong.
Others, however, argued it was wrong and unfair to call the current lawmakers “yes men”.
Finance Committee chairman Ronick Chan Chun-ying said all approved budgets had to undergo at least two rounds of checks at relevant panels and subcommittees before being reviewed and voted upon by lawmakers.
“We raised numerous questions and amendments for the government during the initial rounds of checks, which were often not reported by the media,” he said.
He said the HK$5.5 billion redevelopment project of the Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre, for example, was discussed for four hours with 30 lawmakers asking questions.
“If we were merely yes men, we wouldn’t engage in such thorough scrutiny,” he added. “Just because the result was eventually approved doesn’t mean we didn’t raise any issues or suggestions. Politics is the art of compromise.”
Former legislator Chan Yuen-han, of the Federation of Trade Unions, referred to the government’s decision to shelve the controversial waste-charging scheme and how the budget for proposed Trunk Road T4, to connect Ma On Shan to the Tsing Sha Highway and Shing Mun Tunnel Road, was slashed by HK$350 million after questions by lawmakers.
“These examples demonstrate that lawmakers are actively performing their duty to push the government towards better governance,” the long-time unionist said.
Hongkongers don’t know lawmakers
There is another issue that has dogged the current batch of lawmakers. Although in office since 2022, many are not recognised easily by Hongkongers who appear to have lost interest in Legco affairs.
Former lawmaker of 24 years Emily Lau Wai-hing, of the Democratic Party, said even she could not identify many of the current crop.
“Back in our day, lawmakers – no matter pro-establishment or opposition – could stand the test of popularity as they needed residents’ votes,” she said.
She was a legislator until 2016, when half the 70-seat Legco went to directly elected lawmakers.
“A vote went to you only when residents endorsed you as someone they could reach, ask for help and knew had the guts to speak up for them,” she added.
A survey by the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute in April last year found that current Legco members had the least social recognition since 1997, with half of the 508 people polled unable to name a single lawmaker.
Since then, the institute has converted its free popularity surveys on lawmakers into paid content, citing reasons such as public interest, research value, cost-effectiveness, member opinions, historical value and legal risks.
The media, too, appears to have cooled towards covering Legco.
A Post check of Legco-related news reports found 12,257 entries between January and July 2024, which was 51.6 per cent fewer than over the same period in 2019.
First-time lawmaker Gary Zhang Xinyu acknowledged a persistent gap between the legislature and society, as most residents found it difficult to trust the new system.
He said “quite a lot” of his fellow lawmakers acted like they were part of the government, being supportive to the executive in different ways.
“Being so extreme in supporting the government, a lawmaker might lose his credibility as someone who speaks for the public,” he said.
“Residents then perceive the legislature as the government and tend not to believe that lawmakers can represent them.”
Zhang, who was previously employed by rail operator the MTR Corporation, has become a go-to person on transport issues. He also became known for helping people arrested over their involvement in the 2019 unrest.
“The difference between now and 2022 when I joined the legislature was that more and more people recognise me and seek help from me,” he said.
“I attribute the change to my focus on certain topics and I always strive to follow up, rather than just asking the government for data and opinions.”
Another outspoken first-time lawmaker, lawyer Doreen Kong Yuk-foon, has earned recognition for her relatively critical comments of government policies.
She said the government should bear some responsibility for the public’s weakening interest in Legco matters.
She said some government departments only spoke to lawmakers from relevant panels or committees, leaving out others.
“The government should more actively engage all of us in in-depth, closed-door exchanges about what residents are saying and their needs,” she said.
Zhang and Kong said it would take time to build mutual trust between the legislature and residents.
Kong said: “The current situation is certainly far from ideal. We lawmakers need to reflect from time to time if we have done our job in speaking for the public more vigorously.”