Hong Kong should review reducing number of Legco seats to cut cost, Rita Fan says

Hong Kong’s first Legislative Council president suggested reviewing the number of seats in the city’s legislature, citing the need to use public funds properly.

Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai also said on Sunday that Hong Kong and Shenzhen authorities had discussed the development of a plot at the two cities’ border before the handover to Chinese rule in 1997, but the plan failed because of opposition within the government.

Fan made the remarks during an appearance on a radio show, in which she was asked by the host whether the current 90 seats in Legco were “too many”.

“A friend of mine always says keeping 90 seats costs a lot more than 60, and I kind of agree with that,” she said.

Fan said authorities had to “discuss and review it” in the future, while also cautioning that she was not in a position to make any substantive suggestions as she had stepped back from politics.

The number of Legco seats rose from 60 to 90 after Hong Kong’s electoral system was revamped in 2021 to introduce 40 seats picked among the Election Committee, while ensuring only “patriots” could participate.

Twenty seats were directly elected by residents, while the remaining 30 were picked by professionals from functional constituencies.

Fan, whose son Alex Fan Hoi-kit is also a lawmaker from the Election Committee, said she would not offer any practical advice to her successors, as each term of Legco would face different challenges.

But she stressed that lawmakers should always behave with caution and avoid committing even minor legal breaches, citing a recent series of misconduct by Legco members.

“Lawmakers should not only convey the thoughts of residents but also serve as role models for them,” she said.

“When they lose confidence in you, how would they entrust you to convey their thoughts?”

In July, former Election Committee sector lawmaker William Wong Kam-fai resigned from the legislature after he was arrested and prosecuted for dangerous driving, after he allegedly drove and crashed his vehicle while in an intoxicated state.

Earlier, Hong Kong Island West representative Judy Chan Kapui was fined HK$2,000 for driving on the wrong side of the road and received a written warning from Legco’s Supervisory Committee.

In the two-hour programme on Sunday, veteran politician Fan also talked about the late Tung Chee-hwa, Hong Kong’s first chief executive.

Fan praised Tung as a visionary leader, who made various forward-looking plans during his tenure, including some that ultimately stalled because of various factors.

She revealed that after Tung and she were picked for leadership roles before the handover of the city, the party boss and mayor of neighbouring Shenzhen had met them to discuss a proposal to develop Lok Ma Chau Loop, or Hetao, on the border of the two cities into a technology hub.

“Their dedication to working with us was very obvious, but the discussions led nowhere because some prominent figures in the Hong Kong government at the time thought the timing was not right,” she said.

The 87-hectare Lok Ma Chau Loop is now divided into two technology parks managed by Hong Kong and Shenzhen respectively.

Both sides will work on easing the flows of human and innovative elements, such as data and biomedical samples, to form synergies for research and industrial applications.

Fan added that Tung was keen on pushing forward this initiative, which led to the establishment of Cyberport as a technology powerhouse of Hong Kong.