November 23 is a big day for the Legislative Council, said President Andrew Leung on his Facebook page. He was referring to the day when they will begin a removal of their offices so that all 89 members and their own offices will be housed under one roof, namely the Legco Complex.

(Thanks to a revamp of the electoral system in 2021 in the wake of the 2019 social movement, the number of seats in Legco has expanded from 70 to 90. Some members have their offices located at a commercial office tower next to Legco. One resigned and his seat remains vacant.)

The big day Leung was looking forward to is a day no ordinary citizens seem to care, however. This is not a surprise.

If the public didn’t even bother to know what lawmakers have to say about the Chief Executive’s annual policy blueprint, officially known as the Policy Address, they would not possibly be interested to know where the offices of the lawmakers are located.

The excitement Leung has shown over the progress of the billion-dollar expansion project of the Legco building is in stark contrast with the increasing indifference of the people over the work of Legco, if any.

A long list of “no-nothing” speeches

Billed as the most important work report of the Government every year, a traditional motion of thanks debate at Legco, which follows a series of post-address briefings by officials, is supposed to be another high point of the annual policy address political exercise.

Similar to the arrangements in previous years, this year’s debate was divided into three parts held in three consecutive days, of which each was given a list of specific topics such as governance, education on patriotism and national security.

This year’s debate was concluded on Friday with the motion passed with no opposition in terms of votes and members’ responses.

The poor coverage of the three-day debate by the media says something about the growing irrelevance of the Legco in the city’s political process and daily life.

Media could be pardoned for the lack of interest in the debate. This is simply because of its lack of substance and insight, verging on a long list of “no-nothing” speeches.

More importantly, the media and the public understand well what members say at Legco meetings or elsewhere make little impact, if any, on government policies and decisions.

From major functions to weakest function

Constitutionally, Legco is an independent part of the city’s political structure, or one of the three powers. The two others are the executive branch and the judiciary. Basic Law Article 73 specifies a list of powers of the legislature. In short, it is given the task of holding the executive authorities accountable through exercising checks and balances.

But increasingly, Legco is being seen as part of the executive authorities playing the role of helping to push the government’s policy agenda and to propagate and defend its policies. Reflecting public opinion is supposed to be one of the major functions of the elected legislature. But that has turned out to be its weakest function after the electoral system was overhauled.

Take this year’s Policy Address as an example. Amid dented confidence caused by lingering economic and livelihood woes, the lengthy policy blueprint has failed to boost confidence by giving a clear direction of strategies and a set of policy solutions.

According to an immediate poll on the speech after it was announced by Chief Executive John Lee on October 16, fewer people listened to his speech. Of the 626 people responded, only 384 did, presenting 55 percent, down from 72 percent last year. The corresponding figure in 2022 was 66 percent.

Among those who had listened, 27 per cent said they were satisfied with Lee’s speech – down from 34 per cent in the previous year – while 40 per cent said they were not satisfied. The policy blueprint was rated 42.4 points out of 100 – lower than 44.4 in 2023 and 51.1 in 2022.

The voices of disappointment, if not discontent, of the people towards Lee’s blueprint, the third in his five-year term, were lost in the Policy Address debate in the expanded space of the Legislative Council building.

The building is getting taller, but the role and functions of Legco are shortening.

( Photo : LegCo website )

 

▌[At Large] About the Author

Chris Yeung is a veteran journalist, a founder and chief writer of the now-disbanded CitizenNews; he now runs a daily news commentary channel on Youtube. He had formerly worked with the South China Morning Post and the Hong Kong Economic Journal.