'Legco Guards Forced To Reveal Political Colours'

The Legislative Council’s administrative wing was hit by further allegations of political bias on Thursday after a security guard at the council accused her employers of trying to force her to declare her political affiliation in writing.

The guard, surnamed Wong, said she was given a form when she first took up the job two years ago, asking if she is “yellow ribbon”, or “blue ribbon” – or, in other words, pro-democracy or pro-establishment. She said there was no option to be politically neutral.

Wong said she refused to sign the form, but was “continuously bullied” by her bosses ever since. She other members of her security team were also asked to sign the same form.

The security guard also spoke of one incident when she was spotted talking to pro-democracy activist Raphael Wong, who was working as a political assistant in Legco that day, and was subsequently warned against doing this.

Wong said the constant bullying forced her to seek medical attention, and she has now finally resigned and will leave her job at the end of this month.

Civic Party lawmaker, Jeremy Tam – who has been helping Wong – claimed the case showed Legco's administrative wing was not politically neutral. He has written to the Legco Commission demanding an explanation.

Hours later, council president Andrew Leung said the Legco Commission, which he chairs, will meet on May 20 to discuss the "very serious" allegations.

Asked whether any Legco staff had ever been given such forms, the Secretary General of the Legco Secretariat, Kenneth Chen, said they've only just started looking into the matter, but stressed that he'd never done anything of the sort.

"I have never asked colleagues about their political inclination. In fact, political neutrality is a core value and operating principle of the secretariat", he said.

The pan-democratic camp has been highly critical of Chen, accusing him of siding with their pro-establishment rivals in seeking to wrest control of a key panel vetting extradition law changes from the pan-democrats.

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