Johnny Mak Ip-sing (; born 1960) is a pro-ROC and

pro-democracy Democratization, or democratisation, is the transition to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. It may be a hybrid regime in transition from an authoritarian regime to a full ...

politician in Hong Kong. He has been a

Yuen Long District Council The Yuen Long District Council () is the district council for the Yuen Long District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 such councils. The Yuen Long District currently consists of 45 members, of which the district is divided into 39 constituencies, ...

lor since 1991 and is the current Chairman of the Democratic Alliance.

Biography

Growing up in a pro-ROC background, Mak was a graduate from the

Tamkang University Tamkang University (TKU; ) is a private university in Tamsui District, New Taipei City, Taiwan. It was founded in 1950 as a junior college of English literature. Today it is a comprehensive university with 11 colleges that serves nearly 25,000 ...

in Taiwan, studying Japanese language. He was the president of the Hong Kong Federation of Taiwan Universities Alumni Association from 2007 to 2011. He joined the democracy movement during the

Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...

. He was member of the first major pro-democracy party

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 ...

which 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 ...

. In the 1991 District Board elections, he became member of the

through Yuen Long Town South and was re-elected through Fung Cheung in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

. He has since been holding this seat. Mak was also a member of the pro-ROC

123 Democratic Alliance 123 Democratic Alliance ( Chinese: 一二三民主聯盟) was a pro-Kuomintang political party in Hong Kong. Established in 1994 by a group of pro-Taiwan, pro-democracy and pro-business politicians, it aims at striving for the unification of ...

which was dissolved in 2000 before he joined the radical democratic party The Frontier. He contested in the 1995 Regional Council election and 1998 Legislative Council election with

Yum Sin-ling Lawrence Yum Sin Ling (; born 1948) was a member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council from 1995 to 1997 and a district councillor for Kowloon City District of Hong Kong from 1994 to 1997 ( Prince constituency). He is a founding member of a pro- ...

for the 123 Democratic Alliance but was not elected. After the 2003 July 1 protests, he set up the local electoral alliance

Yuen Long Tin Shui Wai Democratic Alliance The Democratic Alliance, formerly called Yuen Long Tin Shui Wai Democratic Alliance, was a small pro-democracy pro-ROC political group in Hong Kong established in 2003 and dissolved in 2021. The final chairman of the alliance was Johnny Mak ...

with

Albert Chan Wai-yip Albert Chan Wai-yip (born 3 March 1955, Hong Kong) is a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong representing the New Territories West constituency. He has served as a legislator from 1991 to 2016 except for the periods 1997–2 ...

for the 2003 District Council election. He became member of the Executive Committee 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 (Hong Kong), pro-democracy camp and stresses on ...

(LSD). During the intra-party factional struggle, he sided with former Chairman

Wong Yuk-man Raymond Wong Yuk-man (; born 1 October 1951) is a Hong Kong communist, pro-china, author, current affairs commentator and radio host. He is a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo), representing the geographical constitue ...

and issued a public letter to criticise the incumbent Chairman

Andrew To Kwan-hang Andrew To Kwan-hang (; born 7 February 1966) is a Hong Kong politician and activist. He is the former chairman of the League of Social Democrats and former member of the Wong Tai Sin District Council. Early life, education and student activis ...

. He later quit the party with Wong and became Vice-Chairman of the new party,

People Power "People Power" is a political term denoting the populist driving force of any social movement which invokes the authority of grassroots opinion and willpower, usually in opposition to that of conventionally organised corporate or political for ...

which set up by Wong. In 2011 District Council election, he became the only People Power candidate who won a seat in the election. In 2012, he disputed with the party over the candidacy 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 quit the party on 28 June 2012 and ran under the banner of the Democratic Alliance, but failed to be elected with 2,896 votes. On the issue of the Occupy Central movement campaigned by the pan-democrats with the aims at pressing the Beijing government to implement genuine universal suffrage, Mak was accused by

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 ...

newspaper ''

Tai Kung Pao ''Ta Kung Pao'' (; formerly ''L'Impartial'') is the oldest active Chinese language newspaper in China. Founded in Tianjin in 1902, the paper is state-owned, controlled by the Liaison Office of the Central Government after the Chinese Civil War ...

'' of working for the Military Intelligence Bureau of the ROC National Security Bureau. Mak dismissed the accusation, saying it was a joke.

Positions

In addition to being Chairman of the Democratic Alliance and Vice-chairman of the Yuen Long District Council, Mak serves other positions. Mak currently serves as primary organizer of yearly Double Tenth celebrations in Hong Kong at Hung Lau. He is chairman of the Highwise Yuen Long Service Centre, the group which manages the memorial garden. Also, he is Honorary President of the Hong Kong Federation of Taiwan Universities Alumni Association, and is Vice President of the Tamkang University Alumni Association.

References

1960 births Living people District councillors of Yuen Long District United Democrats of Hong Kong politicians Democratic Party (Hong Kong) politicians 123 Democratic Alliance politicians The Frontier (Hong Kong) politicians League of Social Democrats politicians People Power (Hong Kong) politicians Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2007–2012 {{HK-politician-stub