Gary Fan Kwok-wai (; born 30 October 1966) is a Hong Kong politician. He was the member of Legislative Council from 2012 to 2016 and from 2018 to 2019 after winning the

2018 by-election Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the short ...

for New Territories East. He is also a former member of the

Sai Kung District Council The Sai Kung District Council () is the district council for the Sai Kung District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 such councils. The Sai Kung District Council currently consists of 31 members, of which the district is divided into 29 constituenc ...

for Wan Hang. Former leader of the reformist faction in the Democratic Party, he led the reformists splitting from the party to form the

Neo Democrats The Neo Democrats was a pro-democracy, localist political group in Hong Kong composed mainly of former and disenchanted members of the Democratic Party New Territories East branch after the 2012 constitutional reform proposals. It had held ...

over the controversial 2010 constitutional reform proposal, taking a moderate localist stance. After the disqualification of

Ventus Lau Ventus Lau Wing-hong (; born 8 October 1993) is a Hong Kong politician. He is the convenor of the Shatin Community Network and the founding convenor of the Community Network Union, an alliance of the localist community groups in different distri ...

, a 2018 by-election candidate, was ruled unlawful by the Court of Final Appeal, the by-election was seen as invalid and Fan was unseated in December 2019 as a result.

Party politics

Huiyang Huiyang District ( postal: Waiyeung; is a district of Huizhou, Guangdong province, People's Republic of China. It was renamed in 2003 amid the restructuring of districts and counties in Huizhou. Formerly named Huiyang city (county level), its si ...

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhej ...

ancestry, Gary Fan is a graduate of

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different ...

. Fan joined the Democratic Party after returning to Hong Kong. Fan was a leading member of the Democratic Party, including being a member of the standing committee of its central committee.Democrats lick wounds as 30 reform radicals quit
, The Standard, Colleen Lee, 20 December 2010 Fan opposed the Democratic party's stance on the

Five Constituencies Referendum The 2010 Hong Kong Legislative Council by-election was an election held on 16 May 2010 in Hong Kong for all five geographical constituencies of the Legislative Council (LegCo), triggered by the resignation of five pan-democrat Legislative Coun ...

movement and its support of the constitutional reform package in 2010. He,

Chan King-ming Chan King-ming is a Hong Kong politician and academic. He served as the vice-chairman of the Democratic Party of Hong Kong from 2004 to 2006. He is also an associate professor in the department of biochemistry and Environmental Science Progr ...

and other reformists quit the Democratic Party in December 2010. Before that they had already formed the

political grouping on 2 October 2010. He held the position of one of its four convenors from 2010 to 2012. In the 2012 LegCo elections, Fan won a new seat in the New Territoires East

geographical constituency In Hong Kong, geographical constituencies, as opposed to functional constituencies, are elected by all eligible voters according to geographically demarcated constituencies. There are currently 5 geographical constituencies in Hong Kong, returni ...

created under the 2010 constitutional reform package.

Legislative councillor

Gary Fan has taken an anti-immigration stance in the Legislative Council, differing from other pan-democrats who tended to support new arrivals. Fan called for the government to take back the approval rights on

One-way Permit A People's Republic of China Permit for Proceeding to Hong Kong and Macao, or One-way Permit, is a document issued by the People's Republic of China allowing residents of mainland China to leave the mainland permanently to settle in Hong Kong or ...

s from Chinese authorities and to reduce the quota of such permits. Fan also refers to immigrants from mainland China and the quota of 150 daily permits as "the root of the housing problem". In January 2013, Gary Fan and

Claudia Mo Claudia Mo (born Mo Man-ching on 18 January 1957), also known as Claudia Bowring, is a Hong Kong journalist and politician, a member of the pan-democracy camp. She represented the Kowloon West geographical constituency, until November 2020 ...

formed a group called " HK First". They co-sponsored a controversial ad which claimed that reducing immigration would help the people of Hong Kong to get to the bottom of the housing problem, while rejecting claims of bias or discrimination against mainlanders, despite condemnation from the Equal Opportunities Commission. Fan later introduced a motion on adhering to the need to "put Hong Kong people first" in formulating policies, but the motion was ultimately defeated. He lost his seat in New Territories East in the 2016 Legislative Council election, as

Andrew Cheng Andrew Cheng Kar-foo () (born 28 April 1960 in Hong Kong) was a Hong Kong politician and solicitor. He is a former Democratic Party member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong representing the New Territories East geographical constituency. ...

returned unexpectedly and split the democratic faction's votes. As a result, he resigned his party position as an executive committee member. He returned to the Legislative Council in the 2018 New Territories by-election following the disqualification of localist

Baggio Leung Sixtus "Baggio" Leung Chung-hang (; born 7 August 1986) is a Hong Kong activist and politician. He is the convenor of Youngspiration, a localist political group in Hong Kong that leans towards Hong Kong independence, and is also leader and ...

Youngspiration Youngspiration is a localist political party in Hong Kong founded in 2015. It emerged after the 2014 Hong Kong protests (often dubbed as the "Umbrella Revolution") with an agenda of protection of Hong Kong people's interests and culture agains ...

over the Legislative Council oath-taking controversy in March. He was elected with more than 180,000 votes, defeating the pro-Beijing common candidate Tang Ka-piu of 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 ...

(FTU) and the

Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) is a pro-Beijing conservative political party in Hong Kong. Chaired by Starry Lee and holding 13 Legislative Council seats, it is currently the largest party in the ...

(DAB). After the disqualification of

, a 2018 by-election candidate, was ruled unlawful by the Court of Final Appeal, the by-election was seen as invalid and Fan was unseated in December 2019 alongside

Au Nok-hin Au Nok-hin (; born 18 June 1987) is a pro-democracy politician in Hong Kong. He is the former member of the Legislative Council for Hong Kong Island from 2018 to 2019 and member of the Southern District Council for Lei Tung I from 2012 to 20 ...

as a result, after the Court of Final Appeal rejected both appeal applications.

District councillor

He was first elected as District Councillor in the

for Wan Hang in 1999. He was re-elected by a comfortable majority on 22 November 2015. As a District Council member he serves on various committees: * District Facilities Management Committee * Social Services and Healthy and Safe City Committee * Housing and Environmental Hygiene Committee * Traffic and Transport Committee * Finance and Administration Committee As well as being a district councillor, Fan is also a part-time tutor at the

Open University of Hong Kong Hong Kong Metropolitan University (HKMU) is a university in Ho Man Tin, Hong Kong. Established as the Open Learning Institute of Hong Kong by the Hong Kong government in 1989, HKMU now consists of five schools, namely the School of Arts and So ...

Arrest

On 6 January 2021, Fan was among 53 members of the pro-democratic camp who were

arrested An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be questi ...

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. Fan was released on bail on 7 January. On 28 February 2021, Fan was formally charged, along with 46 others for subversion, and he was remanded in prison. On 2 November, High Court judge Esther Toh upheld her decision to deny bail to Fan arguing that he was a "determined and resolute man" who called for all parties to act together in opposing the government.

References

External links