Stop Paying Wages To Anti-Article 23 Councillor: DAB

The DAB party has urged authorities not to pay wages and allowances to a pro-democracy district councillor in Tung Chung.

Several residents from the district joined a DAB protest on Monday outside the government's headquarters in Tamar, over councillor Sheep Wong saying he wouldn't help anyone who supports calls for the introduction of Article 23 national security legislation.

DAB lawmaker Holden Chow, who lost to Wong in November's district council elections, said he had received complaints from residents who had described Wong’s behaviour as unacceptable.

Chow urged Wong to apologise and called on the government to look into ways to deter other district councillors from making such statements, for example by issuing warning letters.

"I think the government should explore different ways to deal with this sort of situation in order to deter people from following suit, because unfortunately we’ve seen that a lot of other district councillors attempt to follow suit," the legislator said.

"That’s a very harmful attitude within our society, that only causes our society to be more divided in spreading hatred."

Pro-Beijing legislator Junius Ho has recently spearheaded efforts to drum up support for Article 23 legislation, with street booths and an online petition part of the campaign. Ho says such laws could stop some protests in Hong Kong and keep "undesirable" people out of the legislature.

Last week, the government warned two pro-democracy district councillors in Sham Shui Po that a sign they had put up saying they would not serve "blue ribbon" government supporters and "dogs" – a derogatory term used to refer to police officers – could damage social harmony.

The Home Affairs Department said it had received a large number of complaints about the notice, and councillors Leos Lee and Lao Ka-hang may have breached a code of conduct for district council members.