Lawmakers laud plan to keep 'enemies' out of councils
Lawmakers on Wednesday hailed the government's plan to revamp the city's district councils, saying it will show how China's version of democracy trumps all others, and prevent the Hong Kong public from choosing the wrong people for the job. Under the plan, candidates will have to make it through a new vetting process before around 80 percent of members are either appointed or chosen by government-appointed committees, and less than 20 percent elected by the public. Furthermore, officials will monitor the performance of the councillors, and civil servants will chair council meetings.  Lawmaker Martin Liao said the new system will show the superiority of China's whole-process democracy by combining the functions of consultation, decision-making and policy execution. He said the revamp will be the last step in ensuring that only patriots are allowed to run Hong Kong, as stipulated by President Xi Jinping. "The bill has got the eligibility review committee, so that those anti-China, anti-Hong Kong members or candidates will be barred from joining district council elections," Liao said. Federation of Trade Unions lawmaker Dennis Leung said it was unfair that patriots like him lost out in the district council elections in 2019 because the polls had been "politicised".  "Those who're minded to serve the community failed in those elections, I think that is unkind to the community," he said.  "If we're kind to our enemies, we're being cruel to ourselves. It's also unfair to patriotic candidates and we will let down those who're patriotic to the country." All but 27 of the 479 seats up for grabs in the 2019 polls were directly elected and the then pro-democracy camp scored a landslide victory. Hundreds of the seats are currently vacant due to a wave of resignations and disqualifications.