Aron Kwok Wai-keung () is a current 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
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
, which he was elected to in the
2012 LegCo election and
2021 LegCo election. Kwok is a member 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 ...
, the largest pro-Beijing labour union in the territory. He previously held the
Hong Kong Island constituency
The Hong Kong Island geographical constituency was one of the five geographical constituencies in the elections for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong from 1998 to 2021. It was established in 1998 for the first SAR Legislative Council elect ...
, which he won in the
2016 LegCo election.
He is also a district councillor for the
Eastern District Council
The Eastern District Council is the district council for the Eastern District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 such councils. The Eastern District Council currently consists of 35 members, of which the district is divided into 35 constituencies, ...
(
Provident constituency).
On 27 March 2015, Kwok was appointed one of
Housing Authority
A housing authority or ministry of housing is generally a governmental body that governs aspects of housing or (called in general " shelter" or "living spaces"), often providing low rent or free apartments to qualified residents. The existence o ...
members for a two-year term, starting on 1 April.
Early career
According to his Legislative Council biography, Kwok holds a diploma in social work and a Bachelor of Arts degree in social policy and administration, and is also a licensed social worker.
Elections
Wong Tai Sin District Council
During the
2003 District Council elections, Kwok ran in
Ching On constituency of
Wong Tai Sin District Council
The Wong Tai Sin District Council () is one of 18 such district councils in Hong Kong, representing the Wong Tai Sin District. The Wong Tai Sin District Council currently consists of 25 members, each elected from one of 25 constituencies. The l ...
, but was not elected.
Eastern District Council
Kwok ran for election in
Provident constituency of the
Eastern District Council
The Eastern District Council is the district council for the Eastern District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 such councils. The Eastern District Council currently consists of 35 members, of which the district is divided into 35 constituencies, ...
during the
2007 District Council elections. He was elected with 2,527 votes.
He ran uncontested during the
2011 election and
2015 election, retaining his seat by default.
He was reelected in the
2019 election with 3,229 votes, narrowly beating second-place candidate Duncann Chan by 48 votes.
Legislative Council
The pro-Beijing
Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) selects members for two Legislative Council seats comprising the
Labour functional constituency. Kwok, holding one of the FTU seats, was elected uncontested during the
2012 election.
During the
2016 LegCo election, he ran for a seat in the
Hong Kong Island geographic constituency and was elected with 45,925 votes, or 12.2 per cent of the total votes cast.
Political career
Disqualification of localist lawmakers
Kwok has advocated removing
localist
Localism describes a range of political philosophies which prioritize the local. Generally, localism supports local production and consumption of goods, local control of government, and promotion of local history, local culture and local identi ...
legislators from office. In November 2016, he urged the government to challenge the seat of
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 ...
, who was elected during that year's election, on the basis that she read her swearing-in oath very slowly as a form of protest.
The government later launched legal action against Lau and other democratically elected legislators, successfully removing them from office.
Attitude toward homeless people
In November 2017, Kwok was criticised by netizens and anti-poverty activists after expressing a callous attitude toward street sleepers. He made a post on his Facebook page boasting that a footbridge in his district (Provident constituency), on Tong Shui Road, had been cleared of homeless people (and their belongings) on 23 November 2017. The Facebook post included an animated GIF, displaying the clean-up, with the words "all clean". The footbridge was popular with street sleepers as it is redundant to a crosswalk at street level and therefore sees little foot traffic. An anti-poverty activist said that Kwok's post was reminiscent of the concurrent purge of Beijing's so-called "low-end population" that has drawn international attention.
In response to the controversy, Kwok responded that the street sleepers posed a health and safety issue, and that he had received complaints about the footbridge from his constituents. He stated that homeless people should stay in shelters or apply for
public housing
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...
. In response to this, some social workers responded that shelters had time limits and did not constitute a long-term housing solution, and the process for acquiring a public housing unit is not easy.
Legislative Council assault allegation
On 8 May 2020, a meeting of the House Committee of the Legislative Council became chaotic due to controversy between the pro-democracy and pro-Beijing camps over the election of the new committee chair. Live footage filmed during the meeting by
Radio Television Hong Kong
Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is the public broadcasting service in Hong Kong. GOW, the predecessor to RTHK, was established in 1928 as the first broadcasting service in Hong Kong. As a government department under the Commerce and Econo ...
showed Kwok grabbing
Raymond Chan Chi-chuen
Raymond Chan Chi-chuen (born 16 April 1972 in Hong Kong, ), also called Slow Beat () in his radio career, is a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (representing the New Territories East constituency), presenter and former c ...
by the collar and dragging him to the floor. Chan was sent to hospital, where he was diagnosed with a
spinal disc herniation
Spinal disc herniation is an injury to the cushioning and connective tissue between vertebrae, usually caused by excessive strain or trauma to the spine. It may result in back pain, pain or sensation in different parts of the body, and physical ...
.
On 11 May, Chan announced that he had filed a report to the police, accusing Kwok of assault. Chan said he would also launch a crowdfunding campaign to fund private prosecution against Kwok, as he stated that he had little faith in the police nor the
Department of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...
.
Chan launched a crowdfunding campaign to pay for the prosecution, which exceeded its HK$1 million goal within hours. Kwok defended his actions, stating that he was trying to protect LegCo security guards.
Chan launched a private prosecution against Kwok around three weeks after the encounter. On 6 November,
Secretary for Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
intervened and halted the case in the hearing 3 days later.
Attitude toward LGBT community
On 22 November 2018, Kwok voted against a legislative motion that called for the government to explore legal unions for
same-sex couples
A same-sex relationship is a Romance (love), romantic or Human sexuality, sexual relationship between people of the same sex. ''Same-sex marriage'' refers to the institutionalized recognition of such relationships in the form of a marriage; civil ...
in Hong Kong. He was among the 27 lawmakers to oppose the motion, and this majority overruled the 24 favourable votes.
On 27 July 2020, Kwok faced criticism for ridiculing lawmaker Raymond Chan based on his
sexual orientation
Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...
. In a Facebook live broadcast, Kwok referred to Chan as "Mr. Chrysanthemum" and his advocates as "chrysanthemum groupies". The
chrysanthemum
Chrysanthemums (), sometimes called mums or chrysanths, are flowering plants of the genus ''Chrysanthemum'' in the family Asteraceae. They are native to East Asia and northeastern Europe. Most species originate from East Asia and the center ...
flower is considered a common euphemism for
anus
The anus (Latin, 'ring' or 'circle') is an opening at the opposite end of an animal's digestive tract from the mouth. Its function is to control the expulsion of feces, the residual semi-solid waste that remains after food digestion, which, d ...
in
Cantonese
Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...
lexicon.
Chan condemned the derogatory terminology used to mock and discriminate against the
gay
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
community.
LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is a ...
singer
Anthony Wong Yiu-ming stated that Kwok's stance represented outdated views on
homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...
from the pro-Beijing faction.
Politician
Tiffany Yuen
Tiffany Yuen Ka-wai ( zh, link=no, t=袁嘉蔚; born 30 September 1993) is a Hong Kong activist and politician, who has been a member of the Southern District Council for Tin Wan (constituency), Tin Wan since 2020. She was the vice chairperso ...
was critical of Kwok's
homophobic
Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, m ...
language and demanded an immediate apology. On the next day, Kwok continued his usage of "Mr. Chrysanthemum" in his live broadcast.
Driving while participating in LegCo video conference
On 14 January 2021, Kwok participated in a video conference of the Legislative Council's Panel on Housing, where he was suspected to have been driving while in the meeting, potentially violating the Road Traffic Ordinance.
Falsely claimed ''The Guardian'' is a paper for WHO
During the debate on the Motion of Thanks for Chief Executive's 2020 Policy Address on 21 January 2021, Kwok falsely claimed ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' (衛報) is a paper for
WHO
Who or WHO may refer to:
* Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun
* Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism
* World Health Organization
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters
* Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book '' Horton He ...
(世衛).
Birthday party
On 5 January 2022,
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 Kwok attended a
birthday party hosted by Witman Hung Wai-man, with 222 guests.
At least one guest tested positive with COVID-19, causing all guests to be quarantined.
Kwok later claimed that the real issue was not the party, but the government's policy of allowing aircrew from
Cathay Pacific
Cathay Pacific Airways Limited (CPA), more widely known as Cathay Pacific (), is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, with its head office and main hub located at Hong Kong International Airport. The airline's operations and subsidiaries have sc ...
to quarantine at home, saying "I wonder if society should be spending time chasing this party while ignoring the whole anti-epidemic loophole".
COVID-19
In December 2022, Kwok was tested positive for COVID-19.
References
External links
Members' Biographies Hon KWOK Wai-keung
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwok, Wai-keung
Living people
Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions
District councillors of Eastern District
HK LegCo Members 2012–2016
HK LegCo Members 2016–2021
Hong Kong social workers
Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2012–2017
1978 births
Alumni of the City University of Hong Kong
Alumni of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University