'Pan-dems And Street Fighters United Against Govt'

The new convenor of the pan-democratic camp, Wu Chi-wai, said on Wednesday that the pro-democracy councillors who’ve chosen to stay on in the extended session of Legco will act as a bridge between local ‘street-fighters’ and international voices to oppose bad policies or legislation from the government.

Three members of the opposition bloc – Tanya Chan, Chu Hoi-dick and Ray Chan – have decided not to remain in the legislature after their four-year-term expires on October 1, but the rest decided to stay following an inconclusive public poll on whether they should stay or go.

Defending the group’s decision, Wu – who also chairs the Democratic Party – told RTHK “We prefer to stay because we think that there is a value for us to stay in order to slow down the bad legislation coming from the government… that can pass through quickly”.

He highlighted a funding request for studies into the controversial ‘Lantau Tomorrow’ project; and the possibility that Hongkongers now living in the mainland be allowed to vote in future local elections as examples of the kinds of ‘bad’ initiatives that they would oppose.

Murmurs from the pro-establishment camp that the administration would act to rein in the education and social welfare sectors, Wu said, would also be something the opposition will monitor.

He acknowledged that the camp would be playing somewhat of a passive role.

“In the coming year, a lot of [our] tactics will depend on what the government is trying to do… in the Legco, so I think that will be an interactive situation,” he said.

“We have to monitor closely what… the government and the pro-establishment [camp will try] to do and we will react accordingly.”

But Wu signaled that the legislators will not hesitate to fight tooth and nail to achieve their goal of frustrating ‘bad’ government initiatives, saying the gap between tactics used by ‘moderate’ and ‘radical’ pro-democracy forces have been shrinking.

Pan-democrat lawmakers, Wu said, will make sure local activists and the international community are made aware of any questionable moves by the government and its supporters in the council.

“We may not be able to… stop everything coming from the government and pro-establishment camp but we’ll try our best and we’ll want to link up international lines and also the street-fight lines so that we can get together and unite together to fight against the government”, Wu said.

“If we simply give up the Legco lines then we simply give up our weapon – even though it’s a small, minor weapon. But still it’s a weapon that we can fight against it.”

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress decided last month to extend the term of Legco by at least one year to after the government announced that the poll originally due to have been held earlier his month would be pushed back to September 2021, citing the Covid-19 pandemic.