Denouncing legislators-elect reflects desire for rule of law

Residents hold placards and shout slogans outside the Legislative Council in Hong Kong on October 19 to protest the retaking of the Legislative Council oath by lawmakers-elect Yau Wai-ching and Sixtus Leung Chung-hang. ROY LIU/CHINA DAILY

More than 10,000 Hong Kong residents gathered outside the Legislative Council complex on Wednesday in protest against Hong Kong separatism and urged the newly-elected president of the special administrative region's lawmaking body not to allow two "localist" lawmakers-elect to be sworn in.

The banners and signs shown at the protest rally condemn the two legislators-elect, Yau Wai-ching and Leung Chung-hang, for altering the oath during their swearing in earlier this month, and in doing so throwing insults at Chinese people around the world.

Yau and Leung violated both Hong Kong's Basic Law and other Hong Kong laws by changing the words of the oath. And people are outraged because the two repeated their offensive act when LegCo President Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen allowed them to take the oath a second time.

The LegCo president has done the right thing by putting their swearing in on hold until the High Court makes a decision on the Justice Department's application for judicial review of the legality of repeated swearing in.

It should be noted that Leung and Yau, with no small help from fellow opposition lawmakers, tried to force their way into the legislative chamber despite the LegCo president's rightful decision not to allow them to take part in any LegCo meetings as they had not taken the necessary oath.

Chinese people around the world are now watching how their Hong Kong compatriots deal with the insulting and illegal behavior of the two.

Before the protest rally took place on Wednesday, a number of online petitions demanding Yau and Leung apologize to the whole Chinese nation and give up their lawmaker-elect status had collected hundreds of thousands of signatures in just a few days.

Local residents responded first and soon many more joined from overseas. Now the total number of signatures has exceeded 1 million. Such spontaneous expressions of indignation is evidence the great majority of Hong Kong residents and Chinese around the world have no sympathy for their separatist views.

The boorish behavior of Leung and Yau was yet another public display of unruliness by the opposition camp and once again showed the lengths to which they will go to create theater to satisfy their egos.

But the law-breaking of these lawmakers-to-be should also make it evident to the voting public in Hong Kong that such "localist" politicians cannot and should not be trusted with the future of Hong Kong and the well-being of its residents.