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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 movement The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement), also including conservation and green politics, is a diverse philosophical, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues. Environmentalists a ...
s. He is known for his actions against the demolition of the
Edinburgh Place Ferry Pier Edinburgh Place Ferry Pier, often referred to as the "Star Ferry" Pier, was a pier in Edinburgh Place, Central, Hong Kong, serving the Star Ferry. The pier, with its clock tower, was a prominent waterfront landmark. Built in 1957 at the height ...
and
Queen's Pier Queen's Pier, named after Queen Victoria, was a public pier in front of City Hall in Edinburgh Place, Central, Hong Kong. For three generations it served not only as a public pier in day-to-day use but also as a major ceremonial arrival and d ...
in 2006 and 2007 and
Choi Yuen Tsuen The anti-Hong Kong Express Rail Link movement was a social movement and period of civil discontent in Hong Kong between mid-2009 and early 2010. Select groups of Hong Kong residents protested at the proposed Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou� ...
in 2009 and 2010. He was elected to 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 Kon ...
in the 2016 Hong Kong Legislative Council election in New Territories West. He resigned from the Legislative Council on 28 September 2020, citing that he would not serve in an "appointed legislature" after Beijing had extended the legislators' terms by a year.


Social activism

Chu was born in Hong Kong in 1977 and was educated at 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 and ...
. After his graduation in 1999, he studied Persian language at the
Tehran University The University of Tehran (Tehran University or UT, fa, دانشگاه تهران) is the most prominent university located in Tehran, Iran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as its research and teaching p ...
in Iran and worked as an editor and reporter, covering news in several Persian-speaking countries after he returned to Hong Kong. Chu became involved in cultural conservation and environmental issues and founded an activist group called Local Action. In 2006, he was one of the leaders to launch a campaign against the government's decision to demolish the
Edinburgh Place Ferry Pier Edinburgh Place Ferry Pier, often referred to as the "Star Ferry" Pier, was a pier in Edinburgh Place, Central, Hong Kong, serving the Star Ferry. The pier, with its clock tower, was a prominent waterfront landmark. Built in 1957 at the height ...
for the
Star Ferry The Star Ferry is a passenger ferry service operator and tourist attraction in Hong Kong. Its principal routes carry passengers across Victoria Harbour, between Hong Kong Island, and Kowloon. The service is operated by the Star Ferry Co ...
and the
Queen's Pier Queen's Pier, named after Queen Victoria, was a public pier in front of City Hall in Edinburgh Place, Central, Hong Kong. For three generations it served not only as a public pier in day-to-day use but also as a major ceremonial arrival and d ...
to make way for the land reclamation project. He camped inside the pier with other protesters and filed a judicial review with another environmentalist Ho Loy against the decision of the then
Secretary for Home 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 ...
of 22 May 2007 not to declare the Queen's Pier a monument under the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance (Cap 53). The
Court of First Instance A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accorda ...
dismissed the judicial review application on 10 August 2007. In early 2009, he formed the Choi Yuen Tsuen Support Group to support the villagers who were forced to relocate due to the construction of the
Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail Link Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL), also known as “Guangshengang XRL” (officially Beijing–Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong high-speed railway, Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong section), is a high-speed railway line th ...
(XRL). The movement grew into a massive protest in late 2009 and early 2010. After the proposal was passed by the Legislative Council in a controversial manner despite the protesters sieged the Legislative Council Building, Chu helped the villagers to rebuild a new eco-village. In mid 2011, he took part in setting up the Land Justice League, a community movement organisation. He engaged in grassroots work in Pat Heung and
San Tin San Tin () is a loosely defined area in Yuen Long District in New Territories, Hong Kong that is part of the San Tin constituency. Unlike Hong Kong's highly urbanised areas, San Tin is sparsely populated due to its marshlands. San Tin is l ...
. He opposed the government's proposal of the North East New Territories New Development Areas. He was also involved in a "Going Local" campaign to preserve farmland and develop a sustainable communal economy in the
New Territories The New Territories is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory, and contains around half of the population of Hong Kong. Historically, it ...
. He ran in the 2011 District Council election in Pat Heung North, a constituency tightly controlled by the rural force. He ran again in 2015 District Council election in Pat Heung South under the banner of Urban-Rural Link, a campaign launched by the trio to promote green living and sustainable development. Despite his loss, Chu increased his votes from 283 to 1,482. On 29 March 2019, Chu lodged an inquiry to various local authorities, urging them to take the necessary steps to incorporate the Lok Ma Chau Loop into one of the 18
districts of Hong Kong The districts of Hong Kong are the 18 political areas of Hong Kong, a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China, that are geographically and administratively divided. Each district has a district council, formerly dist ...
(most likely to be a part of North District or
Yuen Long District Yuen Long District (formerly romanised as Un Long) is one of the districts of Hong Kong. Located in the northwest of the New Territories, it had a population of 662,000 in 2021 Geography Yuen Long District contains the largest alluvial pla ...
). Currently, the Lok Ma Chau Loop is the only
unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either hav ...
in Hong Kong.


Legislative Councillor


Candidacy

In 2016, he and like-minded, Demosisto's Nathan Law and Democracy Groundwork's
Lau Siu-lai Lau Siu-lai (; born 3 August 1976) is a Hong Kong educator, academic, activist, and politician. She is a sociology lecturer at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University's Hong Kong Community College and the founder of Democracy Groundwork and Age o ...
, contested in the Legislative Council election, where he ran in the New Territories West. He received the highest votes in the geographical constituencies by winning 84,121 votes without any party backing, leading the first runner-up, New People's Party's Michael Tien by about 13,000 votes. During the campaign, Chu took on the
Heung Yee Kuk The Heung Yee Kuk, officially the Heung Yee Kuk N.T., is a statutory advisory body representing establishment interests in the New Territories, Hong Kong. The council is a powerful organisation comprising heads of rural committees which repre ...
over its land rights, drawing public attention to the long-time allegations of collusion between the government, business, landlords and triads behind the Wang Chau housing project, which made the government to scale down the housing project from 17,000 flats to only 4,000 due to the pressure from the powerful rural leader Tsang Shu-wo who owned the
brownfield land In urban planning, brownfield land is any previously developed land that is not currently in use. It may be potentially contaminated, but this is not required for the area to be considered brownfield. The term is also used to describe land pre ...
in Wang Chau. After the election, Chu was placed under round-the-clock police protection when he reported receiving death threats against him and his family. The incident escalated into a political crisis in the following weeks as the government was questioned over the alleged collusion.


Tenure as Legislative Councillor

In the Legislative Council, Chu initially joined the 27-strong pro-democrats' caucus with Nathan Law and Lau Siu-lai but soon quit the caucus. In the 2017 Chief Executive election, he supported legislator
Leung Kwok-hung Leung Kwok-hung ( zh, t=梁國雄; born 27 March 1956), also known by his nickname "Long Hair" (), is a Hong Kong politician and social activist. He was a member of the Legislative Council, representing the New Territories East. A Trotskyist ...
of the
League of Social Democrats The League of Social Democrats (LSD) is a social democratic party in Hong Kong. Chaired by Chan Po-ying, wife of Leung Kwok-hung, it positions itself as the radical wing of the pro-democracy camp and stresses on "street actions" and "parliame ...
(LSD) to run for the Chief Executive through an unofficial civil petition, despite the mainstream pro-democrats backed former Financial Secretary
John Tsang John Tsang Chun-wah, GBM, JP (; born Mui; born 21 April 1951) is a Hong Kong former senior civil servant and government official who was the longest-serving Financial Secretary in the Special Administrative Region period to date. Born in ...
. Chu was criticised for his remarks in the pro-democracy primary of the 2018 Legislative Council by-election. He had commented on Facebook warning the chance of veteran politician Frederick Fung, who became a backup candidate after losing to Chu-supported Yiu Chung-yim in the pro-democracy primary in case of Yiu's candidacy was disqualified, winning as voters might refuse to vote for him and therefore the camp should not blindly abide by the backup agreement. Fung later on announced his withdrawal as a backup candidacy, stating that he was under pressure. "Someone from the progressive democracy bloc told me that if I ran in the poll, they would definitely send someone as well o challenge me” Fung said. Chu denied he had been the one pressuring Fung to withdraw. Chu was also held responsible after Yiu who was believed to be largely dependent on Chu's campaign strategy, was narrowly defeated in the by-election.


Disqualifications from village election candidacy (Autumn 2018)

In November 2018 Kowloon West by-election, Lau Siu-lai, Chu's ally who signed a joint declaration advocating Hong Kong people's right to determination, was banning from running in the election based on her "pro-independence stance" as Hong Kong independence was one of the options in self-determination. It was widely speculated that Chu, who also signed the same declaration would also be barred from running in the re-election. In the same month Chu ran for the Village Representative election in
Yuen Long Yuen Long is a town in the western New Territories, Hong Kong. To its west lie Hung Shui Kiu (), Tin Shui Wai, Lau Fau Shan and Ha Tsuen, to the south Shap Pat Heung and Tai Tong, to the east Au Tau and Kam Tin (), and to the north N ...
. He was asked by Returning Officer Enoch Yuen if he agreed to uphold the Basic Law, agreed to recognise China's sovereignty over Hong Kong, and whether he supported Hong Kong independence. Chu restated his position that he has never supported Hong Kong independence: "I advocate and support the democratisation of the Basic Law and the political system – including but not limited to amending Article 158 and 159 of the Basic Law – as a goal of Hong Kongers’ self-determination after the Central Government blocked universal suffrage." On 2 December, Chu was told that his candidacy was invalid, making him the tenth candidate barred from running in the election for his political belief and the first banned from running in the village-level election.


Repeated ejections (May–June 2020)

The
pro-democracy camp The pro-democracy camp, also known as the pan-democracy camp, is a political alignment in Hong Kong that supports increased democracy, namely the universal suffrage of the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council as given by the Basic L ...
had successfully been filibustering the passage of the National Anthem Bill since October 2019, but their success was drawing to an end in May 2020. On 8 May 2020, scuffles broke out in the Legislative Council (LegCo) as pro-establishment and pro-democracy lawmakers were vying for the empty seat of the house committee chair. Chu was trying to reach the seat through climbing a wall. He was removed by four security guards. On 18 May, Chu was involved in a further scuffle that resulted in his forcible removal from the LegCo chamber. The incident started when a group of representatives from the PDC attempted to break through a ring of security guards around member Chan Kin-por who, pursuant to his appointment from a week earlier, had taken the chairperson seat to prepare the election of the chairperson of the Legislative Council House Committee. Following the removal or boycott of most PDC members, the regular business of the council resumed, with Starry Lee being elected chairwoman of the house committee. Chu said of the incident that "If Hong Kong was a democracy, we would not need to start scuffles like this", but that he "can foresee more fights within the chamber and outside the chamber." On 28 May, during the second day of debate on the National Anthem Bill, Chu was ordered to leave the chamber on orders of
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Andrew Leung for displaying a placard that was seen as mocking LegCo chairwoman Starry Lee. Chu's initial refusal to leave caused a delay in LegCo proceedings for about an hour. After the meeting resumed, fellow lawmaker Raymond Chan walked away from his seat to protest against the ejection of Chu, for which he was ordered by Leung to leave and later taken away by security guards. On 4 June, in an attempt to disrupt the third reading of the National Anthem Bill at the Legislative Council, Chu and fellow lawmaker, Raymond Chan, attempted to disperse pungent liquid towards the President of the Legislative Council, Andrew Leung. They were stopped before they could have reached the rostrum; Chan dropped the liquid and a lantern on the floor. On 16 June, LegCo president Leung announced that Chu and Chan would be fined roughly HK$100,000 each for their actions. Chu declared the same day that he and Chan would examine and possibly challenge the decision.


Resignation

Chu resigned from the Legislative Council on 28 September 2020, citing that he would not serve in an "appointed legislature". Prior to his resignation, the Legislative Council term had been extended, upon authorization by the central government on request of the Hong Kong government, by a year in order to resolve the limbo that had been created by the postponement of the legislative election.


Arrests

Chu was arrested on 1 November 2020, along with six other democrats, in connection with the melee that had broken out in the LegCo on 8 May 2020. On that day, Starry Lee, the incumbent chair of the House Committee of the Legislative Council, had attempted to commence a meeting of the committee after extended stalling tactics of the pan-democratic camp over the previous months. On 8 December 2020, Chu was arrested for his alleged organization and participation in the unauthorized 1 July march that year. Seven other democrats were arrested the same day on charges relating to the same march. On 6 January 2021, Chu was among 53 members of the pro-democratic camp who were arrested under the national security law, specifically its provision regarding alleged subversion. The group stood accused of the organisation of and participation in unofficial primary elections held by the camp in July 2020. Chu was released on bail on 7 January. Prior to the arrests, on 20 May 2021, he announced to disband his team of New Territories West.


Personal life

Chu married his former colleague Au Pui-fun from the media industry in 2010. The couple have a daughter, Chu Puk-tsin (朱不遷), whose personal name literally means "not relocating", in commemoration his activism against the relocation of Choi Yuen Tsuen.


See also

* Hong Kong Express Rail Link controversy * Wang Chau housing controversy


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chu, Eddie 1977 births Living people Alumni of the Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong activists Hong Kong environmentalists Hong Kong journalists Hong Kong localists Liberalism in Hong Kong HK LegCo Members 2016–2021 University of Tehran alumni Hong Kong political prisoners