CY Leung compared to Mao as policy address comes under fire in Legco

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying was compared to Communist strongman Mao Zedong on Thursday as he exchanged fire with pan-democratic lawmakers over critical comments he made about a student magazine in his policy address. Pan-democrat lawmakers boycotted Leung’s policy speech yesterday, but changed tactics in their attempts to embarrass the chief executive during a 1 ½ hour question-and-answer session in the Legislative Council. Leung was asked several times to explain his opening remarks in the policy address, which attacked student leaders for “putting forward fallacies” concerning nationalism and self-determination for Hong Kong in the University of Hong Kong Student Union magazine Undergrad last February. DON'T MISS: CY Leung faces barrage of angry callers as poll says just 30pc satisfied with policy address Leung slammed students for “advocating independence” and criticised a book published by Undergrad in September last year entitled Hong Kong Nationalism. Watch: CY Leung on cover story in HKU Student Union magazine Lee Cheuk-yan, chairman of the Labour Party, accused Leung of acting like Mao. Are you trying to stir up a Cultural Revolution in Hong Kong? Lee Cheuk-yan “Are you trying to stir up a Cultural Revolution in Hong Kong? Are those criticisms your only reflection on the youth issue after the Umbrella Movement? Are you trying to suppress freedom of speech until ‘one country, two systems’ is destroyed?” asked Lee, referring to the 10-year political campaign started by Mao on the mainland in the 1960s that purged dissidents, suppressed free speech and pushed intellectuals and capitalists to work as farmers in the countryside. INTERACTIVE: Behind the soundbites from Leung Chun-ying’s 2015 Policy Address Leung replied: “Freedom of speech means everyone is free to comment on views expressed by others”. Lee then called Leung “a killer of universal suffrage” because he had put forward a reform proposal that denied Hongkongers’ right to choose the candidates. But Leung said that if Lee vetoed the reform proposal then he would “actually be the killer of universal suffrage.” Lee replied that he would be the “killer of fake universal suffrage” while Leung is the “killer of genuine universal suffrage”. When Lee appeared to approach Leung, he instead shooks hands with another pan-democrat, Civic Party leader Alan Leong Kah-hit, who was sitting at the front, and then left the chamber. Leong criticised Leung for putting forward for public debate what he said was a false assumption – that some Hongkongers want independence from China. During the policy address yesterday, Leung quoted a question about land shortage raised by a five-year-old child he had met. Referring to those comments, health service sector lawmaker Joseph Lee Kok-long said a five-year-old child had asked him whether he should study at university in future if the chief executive would launch attacks on students. Freedom of speech means everyone is free to comment on views expressed by others Leung Chun-ying But pro-government lawmaker Lam Tai-fai protested to Legco president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing that Leung and Lee had made up stories about five-year-old children. Other pan-democrats showed their disapproval towards Leung in different ways. Labour Party lawmaker Cyd Ho Sau-lan chose to face the chief executive with her back. People Power’s Albert Chan Wai-yip and Raymond Chan Chi-chuen, “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung of the League of Social Democrats and independent lawmaker Wong Yuk-man were evicted from the chamber at the beginning of the question-and-answer session as they shouted and threw objects – including buns and paper – at Leung. Leung was also grilled over HK$50 million he received from Australian firm UGL in two instalments in 2012 and 2013. He replied that the payments were made as the result of his resignation [from insolvent property firm DTZ, of which he was a director] and a non-competition arrangement with UGL, which hired him before he ran for office. Leung dodged questions about why he did not declare the sum to the Executive Council and whether he declared it to tax collectors, only saying he had explained the case earlier. Pro-establishment legislators also queried some of the new measures set out in the policy address. Christopher Cheung Wah-fung, representing the financial services sector, said the industry was “shocked” about the scrapping of an investment visa scheme, which had enabled mostly mainlanders to become Hong Kong residents. He asked whether the scheme would be restored in future. Leung said the city was more in need of talent rather than capital and the economic situation had become very different from the time when it was introduced in 2003. Michael Tien Puk-sun, of the New People’s Party, criticised the government for failing to listen to young people despite an emphasis on youth development in the policy address. He urged a reform of the Commission on Youth, whose members were all appointed and were mostly “uncles and second-generation tycoons”. He called for public election of members. Leung said he would listen to suggestions for adjustment of the organisation, adding that a platform would be formed to consult young people on land development and urban planning.

CY Leung compared to Mao as policy address comes under fire in Legco

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying was compared to Mao Zedong as he exchanged fire with pan-democratic lawmakers over critical comments he made about a student magazine in his policy address.

DON'T MISS: CY Leung faces barrage of angry callers as poll says just 30pc satisfied with policy address