Chapter 64 How powerful is the "Legislative Council"?

In 1903, this theory pushes the time back to more than a hundred years ago. A building in Hong Kong completely built in the "neoclassical architectural style" - the "Supreme Court" started construction in Central and opened in 1912. This is what it is today The "Hong Kong Legislative Council" building still stands between "Statue Square" and "Standard Chartered Garden".The building is not high from the outside, surrounded by a circle of giant stone pillars in the "Ionian style", and on the top of the building stands a statue of the Greek goddess "Themes" - the goddess was The person is blindfolded, holding a sword in his left hand and a balance in his right hand, to express the fairness and impartiality of the spirit of the law.

The eight immortals in Hong Kong society have crossed the sea, each showing their abilities, but the supreme power ultimately belongs to only one institution, and that is the Hong Kong Legislative Council.According to Article 73 of the Basic Law of Hong Kong, the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is responsible for exercising the following functions and powers: 1. Enactment, revision and abolition of laws; 2. Examining and approving the financial budget; 3. Approval of taxation and public expenditure; 4. Listen to and debate the policy address of the Chief Executive;

5. Ask questions about the work of the government; Then there are several other functions, including the right to "summon relevant persons to testify and provide evidence" and "propose an impeachment case against the Chief Executive". Judging from the "French" alone, Hong Kong's Legislative Council undoubtedly has supreme power in Hong Kong, although I know that no matter how powerful a force is in Hong Kong, people cannot ignore it when considering and controlling Hong Kong's future destiny. And the will of the central government, not to mention the fundamental interests of the country and the nation, but living in Hong Kong, you always have to listen to the official meetings of the Legislative Council several times to see how the "heart" is beating ——

On August 2, 2006, I chose a very sensitive topic—Hong Kong's "Interception of Communications and Surveillance Bill" to enter the Legislative Council.On the first day, I made a phone call to apply. This kind of "application" does not actually need to wait for review and approval. It is mainly to reserve an observation seat.Every time the Hong Kong Legislative Council meets, anyone with a legal identity can come in and observe, "first come, first served, until capacity is full", and the content of the meeting is always made public. When I came to the Legislative Council, at the beginning, I thought for a moment that it was like I was about to walk into the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, but when I opened the door and went in, firstly, I found that there were no guards, and secondly, I didn’t need to go through any security checks. The staff just guided me to the media reception desk to do a simple registration, and did not limit the schoolbag I carried with me.

The hall of the Legislative Council used to look quite big from the TV screen, but when people really walked inside, the "hall" in front of me was not that big. There are no more than a hundred seats, but it is high, and the hollow penetrates through three floors. The atmosphere is dignified enough. The white dome even looks a bit like a foreign church or palace. Three large copper chandeliers are arranged horizontally, providing lighting on the one hand. , On the other hand, it also increases the independent meaning of the hall's solemnity, airtightness, deepness, isolation from the world, and no external interference.

The "Interception of Communications and Surveillance Bill" was proposed by the Hong Kong government. In Hong Kong, this matter is very sensitive. One of the reasons is that Hong Kong is a society ruled by law. The communication of citizens or even any other "suspicious person" cannot be monitored casually. Therefore, whether the draft can be passed smoothly directly involves the safety of Hong Kong society. At the same time, according to the custom, the Hong Kong Legislative Council has a period of summer recess every year. "Interception of Communications and The Supervision Bill needs to be passed by August 8, before the Court of Final Appeal issues an "unconstitutional order", otherwise there will be a legal vacuum.

On the first day when the Legislative Council deliberated on the "Draft", the atmosphere at the scene was relatively peaceful. Since the "deliberation hall" was emptied and the auditoriums were all located on the third floor, I had to keep my eyes down to observe the venue.Members of Parliament spoke either in Cantonese or English, which was very difficult to listen to.The key point is that there was no smell of gunpowder in the venue for a long time, let alone the scenes of members who insisted on different opinions yelling at each other, slapping the table and staring at each other.Slowly I became a little slack.However, just as I was about to let go of the simultaneous translation earphones that I was tightly covering my hands for a short rest (it didn’t work well), the smoke of the war gradually filled up——First, the representative of the opposition made a speech: Counting the "Draft" The "Ten Crimes", accusing the "Draft" of giving too much power to law enforcement agencies, infringing on the privacy of Hong Kong citizens, and damaging the independence of the judiciary, calling on members of the Legislative Council to support the "Amendment" proposed by his party; Subsequently, the representatives of the pro faction counterattacked: accusing the opposition members of parliament to oppose the "draft" in a "bundled" way is "unsuitable, unreasonable, and unrealistic", and accusing them of the "amendment" will only make the Criminals have the opportunity to damage Hong Kong's reputation as one of the safest cities in the world, which is not what Hong Kong citizens want to see...

After all, Hong Kong’s Legislative Council and the mainland’s National People’s Congress hold different meetings. I am not qualified and I don’t want to comment on the positions and attitudes of the parties that day.When I came to the Legislative Council to attend, I just wanted to witness the atmosphere of the venue with my own eyes and experience the ruthlessness and cruelty of the final voting results of the Legislative Council, so my eyes looked at one place from time to time. That place was hung high on the left and right walls above the venue. Electronic ticket counter.However, for the whole morning, the "vote counting machine" stood there quietly and was never activated, and then it was useless in the afternoon, and then, for several days after that, the congressmen were "quarreling".In the end, the "Interception of Communications and Surveillance Bill" has been deliberated for as long as five days, and the meeting has become a "marathon". Including "Fan Taila beats the opposition "Rabb"", "Members Qi Chihuamei Fights the Sandman", "Long Hair "Suddenly" Concerned about Fan Tai's Health" and so on. The "long hair" here is known to refer to Leung Kwok-hung, a very special male member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council, no matter when he attends the Legislative Council, he does not wear a suit but always wears a shawl and long hair. The chairman worked very hard: what should you do if you fall ill? There is no reason for your health to be greater than the government’s failure.” Immediately, the chairman of the Legislative Council Fan Xulitai came up with a “spicy trick”. Raab” is always abusing freedom of speech. Well, I, the chairman of the Legislative Council, have the right to announce that if the draft cannot be deliberated as scheduled, then the meeting will continue all night long, and finally see who agrees. live!

This is the "Hong Kong Legislative Council". A "Bill on Interception of Communications and Surveillance" only involves the safety of Hong Kong people themselves, and does not go beyond the principle and emotional range of "Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong with a high degree of autonomy". Is it so difficult?The five-day deliberation, how long is the technical time taken for the real "deliberation"? Progress and backwardness, fairness and interests, truth and conspiracy, the "battlefield" can also be placed in the same place as the altar of the Legislative Council.

On August 6, the number of votes "disagreeing" of the opposition members did not account for the "majority". "Code of practice and guidelines of various departments" and other formalities.But this time, the number of votes on the "counter" has exceeded the approved number of "approved". ?Does it fail to represent the true opinions of all Hong Kong people? In fact, sometimes in Hong Kong, there are even some more important issues. The "loser" claim does not represent the mainstream public opinion, but the "votes" of the opposition members exceed 1/3, and the proposal is shelved. I have seen it more than once in the short three years in Hong Kong, which makes people feel helpless...