I'm Only The Messenger, Says Carrie Lam

The Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, said on Wednesday that it was the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) that had disqualified four Hong Kong lawmakers and not her or her government, although the administration did ask Beijing to look into the matter.

Lam stressed that she had not been given the power to disqualify legislators and the SAR government's role was only to announce the ousting of Kwok Ka-ki, Alvin Yeung, Dennis Kwok and Kenneth Leung.

Asked by reporters about the legal basis for the move, Lam said there are numerous provisions in the Basic Law and domestic legislation that could be relied upon to unseat legislators.

But she said that in this case, the power rests in Beijing and the resolution announced by the NPCSC earlier in the day simply made it clear that the four are not qualified to be lawmakers.

Lam said the SAR government had sought guidance from Beijing after the four legislators were barred from running in September's elections, but stayed on in the council when the polls were scrapped and Legco's term was extended for at least a year by the NPCSC.

“We needed to find a way out, so to speak,” Lam said.

“We could not allow members of a Legislative Council who have been judged in accordance with the law that they could not fulfil the requirement and the prerequisite for serving on the Legislative Council to continue to operate in the Legislative Council,” said Lam.

“So, that was the purpose of seeking a decision from the NPCSC.”

The issue of the four lawmakers remaining in the council had been brought up before the NPCSC decided to extend Legco's term and many were surprised that they were not barred from staying on at that time.

The pro-democracy camp this week threatened to resign en masse if any of them were disqualified.

Lam was asked whether a legislature consisting only of pro-establishment voices would be a "rubber stamp".

“Each member of a Legislative Council has to account for his or her actions to the constituents, to their voters, and there are many occasions – even amongst the so-called pro-establishment members – that our proposals did not get through, either because they said that it was not good enough or they said that this was not welcomed by members in their respective constituents,” she said.

“So I clearly will say that it is unfair to the pro-establishment members that once the 19 members left the Legislative Council then they will become a rubber stamp of the Hong Kong SAR government. That certainly would not happen,” she added.

As for whether other public officers will be disqualified on the basis of Beijing’s resolution, Lam said decisions will be made in due course.