Hong Kong district councillors face first oath-taking ceremony on Friday, participants must don ‘business attire’, shun political slogans
The to start with oath-getting ceremony for district councillors to swear allegiance to Hong Kong will be held on Friday, with contributors demanded to don “business attire” and shun political slogans.
Main Govt Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on Tuesday reported 260 out of 452 members elected to the municipal-stage bodies had resigned and 8 experienced both remaining Hong Kong or were in detention as of very last weekend.
Lots of of all those who give up ended up pushed by dread they would have to spend back again their salaries if disqualified.
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Saying the move on Tuesday, Lam mentioned the to start with batch of councillors expected to comply with Beijing’s rule to enforce “patriots governing Hong Kong” would be those people from districts on Hong Kong Island.
“Letters will go out today to district councillors to invite them to get the oath,” she said, introducing these would include a costume code to remind them how to get the oath “solemnly and sincerely”.
“If they drop to appear, it indicates they will get rid of their eligibility,” she extra.
But all those who show up will not straight away learn if they have been successful both, Lam warned.
“Those who have acted with suspicion, and could not be equipped to fulfil the oath, will get a likelihood to describe themselves,” she explained.
The oath-using was previously confined to generally senior officers, judges, and lawmakers, but was expanded to civil servants and district councillors previously this 12 months, and arrived following the opposition bloc gained 392 of 452 seats at the 2019 polls, sweeping all 18 municipal-level bodies.
The proposal was handed in May in the legislature, which is dominated by professional-establishment lawmakers.
Since then, the govt has been expected to enforce the oath-using need on district councillors, even although an announcement was only designed on Tuesday.
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A copy of the letter acquired by the Put up go through: “Please be aware that the oath-taker should really be dressed in company apparel in a tidy and respectable fashion.
“Those who are dressed in inappropriate clothes or in approaches which can be seen by oath observers as not remaining truthful and solemn can be barred,” it explained.
Banned outfits objects involved these displaying political slogans or business advertisements, this sort of as sporting activities jerseys. They need to also not incorporate holes or splits, and cannot be collarless, these types of as T-shirts.
According to the guidelines, members are unable to provide objects that may possibly lead to inconvenience or risk, such as umbrellas, gasoline masks and helmets – popular equipment applied by anti-govt protesters in 2019.
Opposition teams these types of as the Democratic Celebration and Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People’s Livelihood have explained they would leave it to their district councillor users to determine on no matter if to consider the oath.
Yuen Prolonged district councillor Tommy Cheung Sau-yin, a previous activist, mentioned in a Facebook put up on Tuesday that he would continue with the ceremony, calling it a “most purely natural option” to “fulfil my community duty”.
Lam mentioned she had delegated her electrical power to observe the vow to Secretary for Household Affairs Caspar Tsui Ying-wai.
Tsui did not reveal how significantly of their salary disqualified councillors would be envisioned to repay, only saying his office would quit dispensing wages and allowances on the working day of disqualification for any specific.
He also said district councillors may possibly not be reimbursed for events not related to their roles.
“There is very little to be frightened of when anyone knocks on your door in the middle of the night time, as lengthy as you have not finished nearly anything incorrect,” Tsui claimed, quoting a Chinese idiom.
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