James To Kun-sun (; ; born 11 March 1963) 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 ...
lawyer and
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
politician. From 1991 to 2020, To was 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 ...
, representing the
District Council (Second)
The District Council (Second) functional constituency () was a functional constituency in the elections for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong which was created in the 2012 constitutional reform package. It was the largest functional constituen ...
constituency. In his final four years, To was the most senior member in the Legislative Council, and was also the convenor of the
pro-democracy caucus from 2016 to 2017. He was also a former member of the
Yau Tsim Mong District Council representing Olympic.
In November 2020, To, along with the rest of the pro-democracy caucus resigned in protest of the disqualification of four of their members.
Early life and political career
To was born in Hong Kong in 1963. He was educated at the Church of Christ in China Kei Wa Primary School and
Wah Yan College, Kowloon before he was enrolled to the
University of Hong Kong
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the fi ...
where he graduated with a law degree,
LL.B. in 1985 and
PCLL in 1986, and became a lawyer after graduation.
He was involved in the local democracy movement in support of the Tiananmen protests of 1989. In 1990, he co-founded the
United Democrats of Hong Kong, the first major pro-democracy party in Hong Kong later transformed into the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
. He was first elected to the Sham Shui Po District Board in 1991 in Cheung Sha Wan.
Legislative Council
Colonial years
To ran in the
first direct elections 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 ...
in 1991, where he was elected with
Frederick Fung of another pro-democracy party
Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood
The Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL) is a Hong Kong pro-democracy social-liberal political party catering to grassroots interest with a strong basis in Sham Shui Po. Established on 26 October 1986, it was one o ...
(ADPL) in
Kowloon West
Kowloon West is the western part of Kowloon, covering the Yau Tsim Mong and Sham Shui Po District, with Kowloon City District occasionally included.
History
The boundary of Kowloon West is not strictly defined and hence varies. While traditio ...
. He was Hong Kong's youngest legislator at the age of 28 when first elected.
[Hong Kong's first Free English-language newspaper](_blank)
''The Standard'' He kept his record until
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
when
Nathan Law of
Demosisto was elected at the age of 23.
He was re-elected in the
1995 Legislative Council election with 69 percent of the popular vote in his
Kowloon Southwest constituency. He served on the Legislative Council until 30 June 1997 at the eve of the
handover of Hong Kong
Sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred from the United Kingdom to the China, People's Republic of China (PRC) at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British rule in the British Hong Kong, former colony. Hong Kong was establ ...
when he had to step down with his party and replaced by the
Provisional Legislative Council.
After 1997
He ran again the
first SAR Legislative Council election in 1998 he was re-elected with
Lau Chin-shek on the same ticket with 55 percent of the popular vote in Kowloon West. He has specialised in the security issues, having been the party's spokesman on security issue and chaired the Panel on Security, one of the key committees in the Legislative Council. He had closely followed the works of the
Independent Commission Against Corruption, immigration issues, Vietnamese refugees, crime and triads. He also campaigned for the setup of the
Independent Police Complaints Commission against police abuses of power.
Due to his Christian belief, he was known for his anti-gay rights voting records despite his pro-democracy political affiliation. He was the only member of the pro-democracy camp to vote abstain in the SODO motion on 7 Nov 2012.
He was re-elected in Kowloon West in 2000, 2004 and 2008. In June 2010, he expressed open skepticism of the Democratic Party's support for the government's
2012 constitutional reform package but nevertheless toed the party line and voted for the measure. In the reform package, the party had secured the inclusion of a late amendment to hold a popular vote for five new
District Council functional constituencies
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 ...
. In a dissenting speech to Legco, he warned of the creation of "super-functional constituencies" with an apparently larger mandate than that of geographical constituency lawmakers.
Nonetheless, in the
2012 Legislative Council election
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...
, he represented the party to run in the newly created territory-wide
District Council (Second)
The District Council (Second) functional constituency () was a functional constituency in the elections for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong which was created in the 2012 constitutional reform package. It was the largest functional constituen ...
constituency. His ticket received 316,468 votes in total, the largest votes in the electoral history of Hong Kong until it was exceeded by his party colleague
Kwong Chun-yu in 2016.
2016 election and caucus convenor
![James To Kun-sun](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/James_To_Kun-sun.jpg)
In 2016, he was re-elected in the District Council (Second) constituency with a sharp decline of vote due to the
strategic voting
Strategic voting, also called tactical voting, sophisticated voting or insincere voting, occurs in voting systems when a voter votes for another candidate or party than their ''sincere preference'' to prevent an undesirable outcome. For example, ...
of the pro-democracy voters who turned to vote for Kwong Chun-yu who was trailing behind To. As a result, To took the marginal seat with 243,930 votes, only 10,694 votes, 0.6 per cent higher than the unelected
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 ...
candidate
Wong Kwok-hing of the
Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions.
He became the most senior member of the Legislative Council, after
Albert Ho retired from the legislature and
Lee Cheuk-yan
Lee Cheuk-yan (; born 12 February 1957 in Shanghai) is a Hong Kong politician and social activist. He was a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong from 1995 to 2016, when he lost his seat. He represented the Kowloon West and the Manufac ...
was surprisingly unseated, and became the last Legislative Council member from the "Class of 91", pro-democrats who first were elected in the
first Legislative Council direct election in 1991. He also became the only legislator who has been directly elected in all elections since 1991 in the most senior member in the house. In October 2016, he became the convenor of the reorganised pro-democracy caucus, holding that position until 2017.
2020 Democratic caucus resignation
On November 12th, To and 14 other members of the Democratic caucus resigned en masse in protest against the disqualification of four Democratic caucus candidates which occurred the previous day. Speaking to reporters, To said, "
he disqualificationsare an arbitrary form of repression by which the Communist Party sought to control everything."
Arrest
On 6 January 2021, To 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. To was released on bail on 7 January.
On 29 September 2021, To was disqualified along with 10 other district councillors for his invalid oath-taking after he was involved with participating in the last year pro-democracy primaries.
Personal life
On 12 December 2009, To married Sue So.
"政情:阿涂再婚 全場催「造人」"
''Oriental Daily'' The couple had a son in 2012.
See also
* Father of the House
Father of the House is a title that has been traditionally bestowed, unofficially, on certain members of some legislatures, most notably the House of Commons in the United Kingdom. In some legislatures the title refers to the longest continuously- ...
* Senior Unofficial Member
The Senior Unofficial Member, later Senior Member and, finally, Convenor of the Non-official Members, was the highest-ranking unofficial member of the Legislative Council (LegCo) and Executive Council (ExCo) of British Hong Kong, which wa ...
References
External links
James To's homepage
(Chinese only)
{{DEFAULTSORT:To, James
1963 births
Living people
Solicitors of Hong Kong
Hong Kong Christians
Alumni of the University of Hong Kong
District councillors of Yau Tsim Mong District
Charter 08 signatories
Democratic Party (Hong Kong) politicians
United Democrats of Hong Kong politicians
HK LegCo Members 1991–1995
HK LegCo Members 1995–1997
HK LegCo Members 1998–2000
HK LegCo Members 2000–2004
HK LegCo Members 2004–2008
HK LegCo Members 2008–2012
HK LegCo Members 2012–2016
HK LegCo Members 2016–2021
Hong Kong political prisoners