Alice Mak Mei-kuen (; born 1 November 1971) is a

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

politician, currently serving as

Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs The Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs is the head of the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau of the Government of Hong Kong, which is responsible for local issues, and the provision of community and youth services. List of office holders Registr ...

. She was formerly a member of the

Legislative Council of Hong Kong The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (LegCo) is the unicameral legislature of Hong Kong. It sits under China's " one country, two systems" constitutional arrangement, and is the power centre of Hong Kong ...

for the

Election Committee The Election Committee is a Hong Kong electoral college, the function of which is to select the Chief Executive (CE) and, since 2021, to elect 40 of the 90 members of the Legislative Council. Established by Annex I of the Basic Law of Hong ...

, representing the

Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (HKFTU) is a pro-Beijing labour and political group established in 1948 in Hong Kong. It is the oldest and largest labour group in Hong Kong with over 420,000 members in 253 affiliates and associated ...

. She graduated from Department of

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

of the

Chinese University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public research university in Ma Liu Shui, Hong Kong, formally established in 1963 by a charter granted by the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. It is the territory's second-oldest university an ...

. She has been a member of the

Kwai Tsing District Council The Kwai Tsing District Council () is the district council for the Kwai Tsing District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 such councils. It currently consists of 32 members of which 31 are directly elected from the 31 constituencies of the district, ...

since 1993, and represented the Wai Ying constituency until 2019.

Political career

Mak was handpicked by

Wong Kwok-hing Wong Kwok-hing BBS MH (, Vietnamese : ''Vương Quốc Hưng'' ; born 29 March 1949, Haiphong, North Vietnam) is a Hong Kong trade unionist and a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, representing the New Territories West cons ...

to run in the

2012 Hong Kong legislative election The 2012 Hong Kong Legislative Council election was held on 9 September 2012 for the 5th Legislative Council (LegCo) since the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The election was for the new total of 70 seats in LegCo ...

. She came in 8th place after

Civic Party The Civic Party (CP) is a pro-democracy liberal political party in Hong Kong. It is currently chaired by barrister Alan Leong. The party was formed in 2006 on the basis of the Basic Law Article 45 Concern Group, which was derived from the B ...

Kwok Ka-ki Kwok Ka-ki (; born 20 July 1961) is a democratic Hong Kong former politician. He is a private urology doctor, having graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong. Kwok is a member of the Civic Party, having joined on ...

received the most votes, and was elected to the

with 7.07% electorate support. Mak also participated in the 2016 legislative election, coming in 6th place after popular

localist Localism describes a range of political philosophies which prioritize the local. Generally, localism supports local production and Local purchasing, consumption of goods, local control of government, and promotion of local history, local culture ...

Eddie Chu Eddie Chu Hoi-dick (; born 29 September 1977) is a Hong Kong social activist and politician. He is a member of the Local Action and founder of the Land Justice League which are involved in conservation and environmental movements. He is kno ...

topped the race with the most votes. She kept her seat on the Legislative Council after receiving 49,680 votes, which represented 8.32% of the electorate. She lost her seat in the District Council during the 2019 elections following a general rout of

pro-Beijing The pro-Beijing camp, pro-establishment camp, pro-government camp or pro-China camp refers to a political alignment in Hong Kong which generally supports the policies of the Beijing central government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) t ...

candidates amidst the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests. She was defeated by Civic Party's Henry Sin Ho-fai, losing to him with 40.12% of the votes. Mak admitted that she, along with other pro-establishment candidates, lost because the

Hong Kong government The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, commonly known as the Hong Kong Government or HKSAR Government, refers to the Executive (government), executive authorities of Hong Kong Special administrative regions of China, ...

"provoked many people with its way of administering". On 18 June 2022, she resigned from the Legislative Council to become Hong Kong's

Controversies and views

Insulting Carrie Lam with profanities

During the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, Chief Executive

Carrie Lam Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor ( Cheng; ; born 13 May 1957) is a retired Hong Kong politician who served as the 4th Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2017 to 2022. She served as Chief Secretary for Administration between 2012 and 2017 and Secr ...

called for a meeting on 18 June with pro-Beijing lawmakers in

Government House Government House is the name of many of the official residences of governors-general, governors and lieutenant-governors in the Commonwealth and the remaining colonies of the British Empire. The name is also used in some other countries. Gover ...

to explain her reasoning for suspending the controversial

2019 Hong Kong extradition bill The Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2019 () was a proposed bill regarding extradition to amend the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance () in relation to special surrender arrangements a ...

. It was reported that Mak, who had publicly supported the bill in solidarity with the government up to this point, berated the chief executive for around five minutes using Cantonese profanities until Lam appeared to be in tears, to which Mak retorted in tears, "what use is crying now? You know how to cry, I do too!". The account was confirmed by a leaked conversation between pro-Beijing lawmaker

Christopher Cheung Christopher Cheung Wah-fung, Justice of Peace, JP (, born 2 May 1952 in Fujian, China) is the founder and chief executive officer of Christfund Securities and a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong representing the Financial Se ...

and

Independent Police Complaints Council The Independent Police Complaints Council (IPCC) is a civilian body of the Government of Hong Kong, part of the two-tier system in which the Hong Kong Police Force investigates complaints made by the public against its members and the IPCC ...

chairman

Anthony Neoh Anthony Neoh, KC, SC, JP is Chief Adviser to the China Securities Regulatory Commission. He is also a member of the corporate boards of Bank of China, China Life, and formerly on the board of China Shenhua. Trained as a lawyer, he is a leading ...

, who did not realise their microphones were still on during their breaks. On 19 June, Mak was asked about the truthfulness of the account, but Mak refused to reveal the details of the meeting, stressing that the pro-Beijing camp does not support the government blindly. Hong Kong's two civil service unions, the Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants’ Association and the Federation of Civil Service Unions, urged Mak to address the accusation and apologise to Carrie Lam if the reports were true.

National security law

In October 2020, Mak pushed for an inquiry into whether filibustering at LegCo should be considered illegal, against the newly-enacted National Security Law.

Flag raising

In February 2021, Mak insisted that universities in Hong Kong should be mandated to hold a weekly flag-raising ceremony of the PRC flag.

Patriots

In March 2021, Mak supported changes proposed by the

NPCSC The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPCSC) is the permanent body of the National People's Congress (NPC) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), which is the highest organ of state po ...

to allow only "patriots" to govern Hong Kong, and claimed that the public was being misled by foreign forces, claiming that "I think the

ong Kong Ong or ONG may refer to: Arts and media * Ong's Hat, a collaborative work of fiction * “Ong Ong”, a song by Blur from the album The Magic Whip Places * Ong, Nebraska, US, city * Ong's Hat, New Jersey, US, ghost town * Ong River, Odisha, ...

government should explain the articles in the Constitution hat electoral reform is under the NPC's purview otherwise the public will be misled by these wrongful arguments put forward by foreign forces." In April 2021, Mak claimed of the changes that "This is for the benefit of the whole society, so I hope the people of Hong Kong will vote in the coming election and I do hope that we'll have a high voting rate" and that the government should spread more propaganda on the changes.

Passports

In April 2021, Mak said that candidates to the Legislative Council should disclose if they have foreign passports, including BN(O) passports.

Police state

In June 2021, Mak said that there would be nothing wrong if Hong Kong were a police state; later, she claimed she was being sarcastic.

Youth Development Blueprint

In December 2022, Mak said of youth that "We think understanding the nation is the first step of growing-up," and the Youth Development Blueprint would encourage nationhood, China's history, the Basic Law, and strengthening their sense of nationality.

Personal life

On 23 February 2022, Mak was the second lawmaker after Edmund Wong to have tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mak, Alice 1971 births District councillors of Kwai Tsing District Hong Kong Christians Living people Hong Kong trade unionists Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions Alumni of the Chinese University of Hong Kong HK LegCo Members 2012–2016 HK LegCo Members 2016–2021 HK LegCo Members 2022–2025 Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2012–2017 Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2021–2026 Hong Kong pro-Beijing politicians Recipients of the Bronze Bauhinia Star 21st-century Hong Kong women politicians