Legco Panel's Hair Gel Debate Raises A Few Laughs

Legco's House Committee on Friday rejected a bid for an adjournment debate on an airport hair gel incident involving a lawmaker, but not before members enjoyed a few laughs at the expense of the Ma Fung-kwok's receding hairline.

Last month, Ma took a bottle of gel on board a plane, breaking aviation rules despite being told by airport security guards that this was not permitted.

The proposal for a debate at a full council meeting later this month was made by the Civic Party's Jeremy Tam, who is a qualified commercial pilot. He said he wasn't targeting Ma, but how people in public office should not abuse their power.

Many pro-government lawmakers, however, didn't want the debate.

Pro-Beijing unionist Wong Kwok-kin said they weren't condoning what Ma did. He said perhaps the bigger mistake Ma made was thinking how much hair he had to insist on carrying the gel.

The opposition's Lam Cheuk-ting, who backed the idea of a debate, made use of Cantonese wordplay to raise a few laughs.

Playing on the fact that 'law' and 'hair' are homonyms in Cantonese, Lam said: "We have to defend the rule of law; hairlines, hairstyle, and hair gel... Mr Ma is damaging the rule of law [faat zi] for hair gel [faat gaau]."

Ma had argued with airport security that the tube of gel should be allowed as it was less than 100 millilitres in size. After he was twice told this wasn't allowed, a third, more senior security staff eventually allowed him to carry his gel on board.

At the meeting, Ma once again apologised for misunderstanding the regulations. He said he was upset when he learned that the security staff in the case were under investigation. He said he had written to the Airport Authority asking it not to penalise the staff.

The cultural sector lawmaker also insisted that he didn't ask for special treatment throughout the saga.

The motion for a debate was eventually voted down, with 28 lawmakers opposed and 21 in support.