Footage from the Monday meeting of LegCo’s panel on education has gone viral after netizens accused pro-Beijing lawmaker and panel chair Ann Chiang of interrupting and being unfair to pro-democracy lawmakers.
In the meeting, Chiang reportedly insisted on some newly-invented and/or rarely enforced regulations, such as having speakers look directly at the chairperson for the entire duration of their questions.
Speaking to localist lawmaker Cheng Chung-tai, she said, “You must follow the rules and look at me! Everyone knows that, right?” (Apparently not.) Cheng, visibly baffled, was stunned into silence for a beat, and failed to finish his question before his time was up.
She then said Ted Hui of the Democratic Party was “lacking a good upbringing” after he addressed someone on the panel directly, rather than asking Chiang to “pass” the question on.
“You have to tell me your question for the secretary, and I’ll pass it on to the secretary for you. It’s a rule,” she told Hui.
“It’s a personal attack,” one netizen commented. “I think she’s the [one] who hasn’t been taught proper manners,” she added.
Later in the video, Cheng pointed out that panel vice-chairman Ip Kin-yuen, who was sitting next to Chiang, failed to look at her whilst speaking to her, to which Chiang retorted, “How we talk to each other is none of your business.”
Cheng, who appeared exasperated, conceded, “Alright, forget it. Forget it”.
Some angry commenters accused Chiang of only enforcing her “rules” on select lawmakers, hinting that she was targeting pro-democracy councillors. Others said jokingly that Chiang was demonstrating her personal way of filibustering.
At one point, Democratic Party lawmaker Helena Wong shouted at Chiang to “shut up” as she slammed the chairwoman for using her position to force her opinion during the meeting, instead of maintaining order. However, Chiang denied the accusation saying repeatedly that “I am the chair!”
“You’re crazy!” said Wong.
Careful, Wong. You know what Chiang thinks about the mentally ill.
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