Ip Kwok-him, GBM, GBS, JP (; born 8 November 1951) is a former unofficial member of the

Executive Council of Hong Kong The Executive Council of Hong Kong (ExCo) is the cabinet of the Government of Hong Kong, acting as a formal body of advisers to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong that serves as a core policy-making organ assisting the Chief Executive. It is ...

, served between 2016 and 2022. He is also former 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

District Council (First) The District Council (First) functional constituency (), formerly called District Council until 2012, was a functional constituency in the elections for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. Its electorate consists of all 431 directly elected mem ...

functional constituency A functional constituency is an electoral device (a non-geographical constituency) used within the political systems of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China: * Functional constituency (Hong Kong) * Functional cons ...

and Hong Kong delegate to the

National People's Congress The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. With 2, ...

and the former convenor of the caucus of 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) in the Legislative Council. He was awarded the Grand Bauhinia Medal (GBM) by the Hong Kong SAR Government in 2017.

Early life, education and teaching career

Ip was born in Hong Kong on 8 November 1951 to a driver father. His father came from Guangzhou before the

Communist Party of China The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...

took over. He studied at the Hon Wah College, a leftist pro-Communist school in the Western District. He later graduated from the

South China Normal University South China Normal University (SCNU; ) is a comprehensive university that is part of Double First Class University Plan and Project 211 in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, in the People's Republic of China. It is a Chinese state Doubl ...

with a degree in Bachelor of Art in Geography. After he graduated, he returned to the Hon Wah College as a teacher where he taught for 20 years.

1967 Leftist riots

During the

1967 Hong Kong riots The 1967 Hong Kong riots were large-scale anti-government riots that occurred in Hong Kong during British colonial rule. Beginning as a minor labour dispute, the demonstrations eventually escalated into protests against the British colonial go ...

, he was member of the

Committee of Hong Kong and Kowloon Compatriots from All Circles for Struggle Against British Hong Kong Persecution The Committee of Hong Kong and Kowloon Compatriots from All Circles for Struggle Against British Hong Kong Persecution, often shortened to the Anti-British Struggle Committee or simply the Struggle Committee, was a political committee establish ...

as a student of the Hon Wah College. He was sent to Macao by 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 ...

(HKFTU) to learn about the December 3 Incident launched by the Macao leftists which successfully led to the concession from Portuguese colonial government.

Political career

District Councillor

He became active in local politics in the mid-1980s when he became vice chairman of a research centre for the development of the

Central and Western District The Central and Western District () located on northwestern part of Hong Kong Island is one of the 18 administrative districts of Hong Kong. It had a population of 243,266 in 2016. The district has the most educated residents with the secon ...

, a supplementary member of the

Central and Western District Board The Central and Western District Council is the district council for the Central and Western District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 such councils. The Central and Western District Council currently consists of 15 members, of which the district ...

. He also co-founded the working committee on concerning the

Hong Kong Basic Law The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China is a national law of China that serves as the organic law for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). Comprising nine chapters, 160 ...

with

Ambrose Lau Hon-chuen Ambrose Lau Hon-chuen, Gold Bauhinia Star, GBS Justice of the Peace, JP () (born 16 July 1947) was the chairman of the Hong Kong Progressive Alliance (HKPA), a pro-business and pro-Beijing political party in Hong Kong. He was a member of the Legi ...

, the chairman of the Central and Western District Board. He first ran for office in the 1991 District Board elections, for the Central and Western District Board in the Kennedy Town West & Mount Davis. He was elected with incumbent Chan Tak-chor, receiving 2,942 votes and defeating incumbent Wong Sui-lai of the pro-democratic

United Democrats of Hong Kong The United Democrats of Hong Kong (; UDHK) was a short-lived political party in Hong Kong founded in 1990 as the united front of the liberal democracy forces in preparation of the 1991 first ever direct election for the Legislative Council of ...

(UDHK). In the 1994 District Board elections, he was re-elected in Kwun Lung and held the seat until he was defeated by legislator

Cyd Ho Sau-lan Cyd Ho Sau-lan () is a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (Legco) for the Hong Kong Island (constituency), Hong Kong Island constituency. She is a founding member of the Labour Party (Hong Kong), Labour Party, since December ...

of the pro-democratic The Frontier in the 2003 District Council elections when his party suffered a devastating defeat in the territory-wide local election. He won back the seat in Kwun Lung in 2007 and held the seat until he stepped down in 2015.

Legislative Councillor

He became a founding member of the

Democratic Alliance for the Betterment 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 l ...

(DAB), a flagship

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 ...

party set up by a group of traditional leftists in 1992. He was a long-time chairman of the party, serving from 1998 to 2009. He was first elected to the

in the last colonial legislative election in 1995 through the ten-seat

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 ...

consisting of all District Board members. In 1996, he was appointed to the Beijing-controlled

Provisional Legislative Council The Provisional Legislative Council (PLC) was the interim legislature of Hong Kong that operated from 1997 to 1998. The legislature was founded in Guangzhou and sat in Shenzhen from 1996 (with offices in Hong Kong) until the handover in 1997 an ...

. In the first SAR legislative election in 1998, he formed a ticket with

Gary Cheng Kai-nam Gary Cheng Kai Nam (, born 29 May 1950, in Hong Kong with family roots in Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China) is a Hong Kong politician who served as vice-chairman for the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong party. He was edu ...

Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island is an Islands and peninsulas of Hong Kong, island in the southern part of Hong Kong. Known colloquially and on road signs simply as Hong Kong, the island has a population of 1,289,500 and its population density is 16,390/km ...

in which Cheng was elected. He returned to the Legislative Council in 2000 when he was elected through the newly created in District Council constituency which was elected by all District Councillors. After he lost his District Council seat in 2003, he was not eligible to run for the constituency in the 2004 Legislative Council election. In the same year, he was awarded the

Gold Bauhinia Star The Gold Bauhinia Star (, GBS) is the highest Bauhinia Star rank in the honours system of Hong Kong, created in 1997 to replace the British honours system of the Order of the British Empire after the transfer of sovereignty to People's Republic of ...

(GBS) by the government. He returned to the Legislative Council through the same constituency in 2008 and has held the seat since then. After retiring from the District Council in 2015, he would also step down in the upcoming 2016 Legislative Council election. As a Legislative Councillors, Ip held many other public positions, including on the Board of directors of the

Urban Renewal Authority The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) is a quasi-governmental, profit-making statutory body in Hong Kong responsible for accelerating urban redevelopment. History The authority's predecessor, the Land Development Corporation (土地發展� ...

. He stepped down from the Legislative Council in 2016 and was succeeded by Lau Kwok-fan.

2015 electoral reform walkout

According to a chat record leaked to the ''

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained ...

'', Ip, as the convenor of the DAB caucus and the coordinator of the pro-Beijing camp, was responsible together with the Legislative Council President

Jasper Tsang Yok-sing Jasper Tsang Yok-sing ( zh, t=曾鈺成; born 17 May 1947) is a Hong Kong politician. He is the founding member of the largest pro-Beijing party the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) from 1992 to 2003 and ...

for the walk-out that resulted in a humiliating defeat of the pro-Beijing parties in the electoral reform voting at the Legislative Council in July 2015.

Executive Councillor

Ip was appointed to the

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Leung Chun-ying Leung Chun-ying (; born 12 August 1954), also known as CY Leung, is a Hong Kong politician and chartered surveyor, who has served as vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference since Ma ...

on 17 March 2016, succeeding resigning DAB chairwoman

Starry Lee Wai-king Starry Lee Wai-king, SBS, JP (, born 13 March 1974 in British Hong Kong) is a Hong Kong politician, chairperson of the largest pro-establishment Beijing-loyalist party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (D ...

. He is also a Hong Kong deputy to the Chinese

. In February 2021, Ip said that he supported reforms to the election system in Hong Kong 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 ...

, and that the 117 seats district councillors hold in the chief executive election committee are held by those who "advocate mutual destruction for Hong Kong." In response, Ma Ngok from Chinese University said that doing so would eliminate public participation in choosing the chief executive. On 5 January 2022, 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 ...

announced new warnings and restrictions against social gathering due to potential

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 ...

outbreaks. One day later, it was discovered that

Caspar Tsui Caspar Tsui Ying-wai (; born 2 September 1977) is a Hong Kong politician, Government of Hong Kong, government official and Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, DAB party member. From 2020 to 2022, he has been Secreta ...

attended a birthday party hosted by Witman Hung Wai-man, with 222 guests. At least one guest tested positive with COVID-19, causing many guests to be quarantined. Ip, several times, later called on Carrie Lam to be lenient towards Tsui. In February 2022, after the

Witman Hung birthday party controversy Witman Hung partygate refers to a political scandal in Hong Kong that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong, COVID-19 pandemic. A banquet was held at a tapas bar in Wan Chai on 3 January 2022, during the fifth wave of COVID-19 pand ...

, Ng defended Hung and said that "I don’t think we need to discuss punishing Hung as he did not cause disrepute to the NPC".

Family

Ip is married with one son and one daughter. His twin brother, Ip Kwok-chung, is a former member of the

Urban Council of Hong Kong The Urban Council (UrbCo) was a municipal council in Hong Kong responsible for municipal services on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon (including New Kowloon). These services were provided by the council's executive arm, the Urban Services ...

and the

Yau Tsim Mong District Council The Yau Tsim Mong District Council is the district council of Hong Kong, district council for the Yau Tsim Mong District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 such councils. The Yau Tsim Mong District Council currently consists of 20 members, of which ...

. His nephew, Chris Ip Ngo-tung, is the current chairman of the

External links

Official website of Ip Kwok-him

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ip, Kwok-him 1951 births Living people Hong Kong educators Delegates to the 10th National People's Congress from Hong Kong Delegates to the 11th National People's Congress from Hong Kong Delegates to the 12th National People's Congress from Hong Kong Delegates to the 13th National People's Congress from Hong Kong District councillors of Central and Western District Meeting Point politicians Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong politicians Members of the Provisional Legislative Council Members of the Executive Council of Hong Kong HK LegCo Members 1995–1997 HK LegCo Members 2000–2004 HK LegCo Members 2008–2012 HK LegCo Members 2012–2016 1967 Hong Kong riots Members of the Selection Committee of Hong Kong Recipients of the Gold Bauhinia Star Recipients of the Grand Bauhinia Medal Hong Kong twins