Roy Kwong Chun-yu (; born 9 February 1983) is a Hong Kong politician and novelist. He is a member of 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 ...
and former member of the
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, ...
for
Pek Long. He became 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 ...
in 2016 through 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 ...
"super seat". Kwong resigned along with 14 other remaining pro-democracy legislators from the Legislative Council on 11 November 2020, after the central government had unseated four of pro-democracy legislators the same day.
Biography
Prior to entering politics, Kwong worked in a youth centre in
Long Ping Estate
Long Ping Estate () is a mixed TPS and public housing estate in Wang Chau, Yuen Long, New Territories, Hong Kong, near MTR Long Ping station. It is the third public housing estate in Yuen Long Town and the largest public housing estate in Yuen ...
,
Yuen Long
Yuen Long is a town in the western New Territories, Hong Kong. To its west lie Hung Shui Kiu (), Tin Shui Wai, Lau Fau Shan and Ha Tsuen, to the south Shap Pat Heung and Tai Tong, to the east Au Tau and Kam Tin (), and to the north Nam Sang W ...
. In 2004 he became a community officer for
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 ...
's
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
Zachary Wong
Zachary Wong Wai-yin (; born 22 December 1957, Hong Kong) is a former Yuen Long District Councillor (representing Nam Ping) for the Meeting Point and later Democratic Party and a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong.
He j ...
and subsequently joined the party.
Political career
In
2007 District Council elections, 24-year-old Kwong ran in
Pek Long of the
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, ...
, defeating a veteran
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 ...
(DAB) incumbent Chan Siu-kay.
He went on to be re-elected in 2011, 2015, and 2019.
As a 25-year-old, Kwong became the youngest candidate in the
2008 Legislative Council election, running in
New Territories West
New Territories West (NTW) is the western part of Hong Kong's New Territories, covering Yuen Long, Tuen Mun, Tsuen Wan, Kwai Tsing and the Islands District.
History
Settlements in the area, except the Islands District, have been connected by the ...
with
Cheung Yin-tung
Cheung Yin-tung (; born 1 May 1964) is a Hong Kong politician. He is the former secretary and treasurer of the Democratic Party and former member of the Yuen Long District Council.
Biography
He was a New Territories indigenous resident born ...
but was not elected. 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 ran with party chairman
Albert Ho
Albert Ho Chun-yan (; born 1 December 1951) is a solicitor and politician in Hong Kong. He is the former chairman (2014–2019) and vice-chair (2019–2021) of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, and f ...
in the 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 ...
“super seat” and successfully helped Ho to be elected.
In the
2016 Legislative Council election, he became 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 ...
through 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 ...
"super seat" with veteran
James To
James To Kun-sun (; ; born 11 March 1963) is a Hong Kong lawyer and Democratic Party politician. From 1991 to 2020, To was a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, representing the District Council (Second) constituency. In his fina ...
in which he won nearly 500,000 votes, the largest votes ever to be received by a ticket. He was once considered as a marginal candidate in the election according to the
election poll. However, the weaker pro-democracy candidates from
Civic Party
The Civic Party (CP) is a pro-democracy liberal political party in Hong Kong. It is currently chaired by barrister Alan Leong.
The party was formed in 2006 on the basis of the Basic Law Article 45 Concern Group, which was derived from 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 ...
and
ADPL openly suspended their election campaign in order to secure the third super seat of the pro-democracy camp. Besides, he was recommended by
Benny Tai
Benny Tai Yiu-ting (; born 12 July 1964) is a Hong Kong legal scholar, political figure, and democracy activist. He was an associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong.
From 2013, Tai launched and is known for his initiation of ...
's ThunderGo plan. As a result, Kwong was elected with a record-breaking number of popular votes.
During the
2019–20 Hong Kong protests, Kwong was often seen chanting protest slogans and calling on protesters and police alike to remain calm.
On the morning of 24 September 2019, Kwong was assaulted near his
Tin Shui Wai
Tin Shui Wai New Town is a satellite town in the northwestern New Territories of Hong Kong. Originally a ' fish pond area, it was developed in the 1980s as the second new town in Yuen Long District and the eighth in Hong Kong. It is due northw ...
home. Three people pulled him from his car and began punching and kicking him, with one of them filming the attack. He was subsequently taken to
Tin Shui Wai Hospital
Tin Shui Wai Hospital () is a public hospital in Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong. The 300-bed hospital is part of the New Territories West Cluster serving the population of Yuen Long and Tuen Mun districts, particularly those in the Tin Shui Wai New To ...
with injuries to his cervical vertebrae, as he was kicked in the back of the neck. The Democratic Party condemned the incident, alleging it to be an organised attack intended to intimidate supporters of the protest movement.
Yuen Long district councillor
Zachary Wong
Zachary Wong Wai-yin (; born 22 December 1957, Hong Kong) is a former Yuen Long District Councillor (representing Nam Ping) for the Meeting Point and later Democratic Party and a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong.
He j ...
claimed that both he and Kwong had received threatening letters a month prior.
The Hong Kong government condemned the attack and said the police would investigate.
On 11 November 2020, Kwong resigned from the Legislative Council together with 14 remaining pro-democratic legislators in protest over the unseating of four pro-democratic legislators through a ruling by the central government on the same day.
On 6 January 2021, Kwong 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. Kwong was released on bail on 7 January.
On 21 October 2021, Kwong was disqualified along with 15 other district councillors (with a further one having resigned before disqualification) for his invalid oath-taking after he was involved with participating in the last year pro-democracy primaries.
Writing career
Kwong is also a romantic fiction writer. He published his successful debut book ''Love You Like the First Time We Met'' in 2014. His second book, ''There is a Kind of Happiness Called Forgetting'', sold more than 10,000 copies at the annual
Hong Kong Book Fair
The Hong Kong Book Fair () is a book fair organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, held annually (usually in the middle of July) at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, selling and exhibiting books, printed matter, ...
in the same year. He also drew attention online after he published a short love essay entitled "The Last Time You Were On
WhatsApp
WhatsApp (also called WhatsApp Messenger) is an internationally available freeware, cross-platform, centralized instant messaging (IM) and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by American company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook). It allows us ...
" on the internet in 2012. Kwong had attracted over 92,000 "likes" on Facebook since the essay. Up to 2015, he has published seven romantic novels. His peculiar writing style is imitated and called “Kwong-style”.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwong, Roy
1983 births
Living people
Hong Kong novelists
Hong Kong social workers
District councillors of Yuen Long District
Democratic Party (Hong Kong) politicians
HK LegCo Members 2016–2021