Legco Secretary General Ignores Calls To Resign

The legislature's secretary general, Kenneth Chen, on Tuesday failed to respond calls for him to resign over the Legco storm surrounding a bills committee on the government's proposed changes to extradition laws.

An online petition calling for Chen to step down over the affair has been signed by some 22,000 people in two days.

The petition alleges that the secretariat led by Chen had overstepped its powers by issuing a circular asking lawmakers to vote in writing whether they supported a move to replace Democrat James To with Abraham Shek as the host of the next bills committee.

Legco rules state that the chairman of a bills committee may issue such circulars, but decisions cannot be made in this manner if even one lawmaker objects.

Chen said in a statement over the weekend that because no chairman had been elected for the committee, the secretariat had to come up with a "feasible solution" by putting the idea of a switch in presiding councillors to lawmakers via a circular.

Although the House Committee had earlier signalled its support for Shek to replace To, the move going ahead on Monday led to a split among bills committee members, with both men now claiming to be the rightful leader of the committee.

When asked by reporters on Tuesday whether he would take responsibility for the controversy and resign, Chen simply ignored the question.

He told the media that the actions of the secretariat had been based on the rules of procedure, house rules and past practice.

But pro-democracy lawmakers said Chen had failed to explain which Legco rule the secretariat made use of to organise the changeover in presiding legislators.

The camp's convenor, Claudia Mo, accused him of acting as if he has "the supremacy of Beijing's Basic Law interpretation" powers. She also stressed that her camp only has an issue with Chen, and not other staff members of the secretariat.

Mo also mocked the secretary general, accusing him of making a Freudian slip when he said the secretariat has "always worked against the principle of political neutrality".