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In response to the recent filibustering continued at the Finance Committee (FC) of the Legislative Council (LegCo), the Chief Executive, Mr C Y Leung, issued the following statement:
"Over the past five days, the FC has held meetings for 27 hours to examine a number of livelihood items proposed by the Government.
In order to expedite the passing of these livelihood items, I announced on June 19 that the funding application for establishing the Innovation and Technology Bureau (ITB), which was originally scheduled as the first item, would be put to the end of the FC agenda.
However, pan-democratic members of the LegCo still turned a blind eye to this positive move by the Government and insisted to obstruct the normal examining and voting of the ITB. During the deliberations of the livelihood items in the past five days, they continued to use various delaying tactics. For those pan-democratic parties who earlier claimed they would not join the filibustering, they created the same impact by raising repeated questions.
All along, the Government is most willing to explain in detail every proposal to members at Legco sessions. However, filibustering and "disguised" filibustering does not only violate the proper form of discussion at LegCo and the principle of democracy, it also seriously damages the competitiveness and international image of Hong Kong. This should not be tolerated.
I expressed my utmost regret over the various ways of filibustering by the pan-democratic members of LegCo. They have wasted public money, ignored the demands of the society and the industries, and hindered Hong Kong's development.
Meanwhile, I would like to thank all the other LegCo members and government colleagues for working so hard around the clock in the past five days for the overall interest of Hong Kong.
Innovation and technology is closely linked to Hong Kong's competitiveness and we need to keep pace with its rapid and fast-changing development. The establishment of ITB has been deliberated at the LegCo for three years and the society has lost the opportunity to make use of innovation and technology to boost the economy and improve people's livelihood.
I urge the pan-democratic members of the LegCo to examine the funding application in a proper manner and move on to the voting process as soon as possible."
Ends/Saturday, July 18, 2015
Issued at HKT 16:05
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