Helena Wong Pik-wan (, born 21 March 1959) is a 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 Kon ...

for Kowloon West constituency. She is also an academic staff member at

Hong Kong Polytechnic University The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is a public research university located in Hung Hom, Hong Kong near Hung Hom station. The University is one of the eight government-funded degree-granting tertiary institutions in Hong Kong. Founded ...

Background

Wong was born in Hong Kong in 1959, and graduated from the

Chinese University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public research university in Ma Liu Shui, Hong Kong, formally established in 1963 by a charter granted by the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. It is the territory's second-oldest university and ...

with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in Religion and

Master of Philosophy The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil ...

in Government and Public Administration. She continued on to receive her

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

and

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the Californ ...

. She joined the

Hong Kong Christian Council The Hong Kong Christian Council (Also known as HKCC; ) is a Protestant Christian ecumenical organization founded in Hong Kong in 1954. It is a member of the World Council of Churches and the Christian Conference of Asia. The current general secret ...

in 1984, working on Publication, public policies and social affairs, and promotion of civic education. She co-founded the Hong Kong Christian Institute in 1988, an ecumenical Christian non-governmental organisation outside the institutional constraints of the church. She also chaired the Hong Kong Women Christian Council from 1999 to 2002. She has lectured at

from 1999 to 2019, with a focus on Hong Kong and mainland China, and women's issues. She held the coordinator position for the theme on “Chinese political system and legal system” of GEC2801 China Studies from 2004 to 2006. She retired from the PolyU on 30 June 2019.

Political career

Wong joined the

Hong Kong Democratic Foundation The Hong Kong Democratic Foundation (; HKDF) is a Hong Kong public policy think tank established initially as a political party on 27 October 1989. The Foundation was founded in the run up to the first Legislative Council direct elections of 19 ...

in 1989 and co-founded the first major pro-democracy party, the

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 became the Democratic Party in 1994. She became a member in the

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 Ho ...

for the Higher Education sub-sector in 2011. In 2012, Wong was elected into the

for the Kowloon West constituency. She gained fame when she exposed the lead contamination in tap water at

Kai Ching Estate Kai Ching Estate () is a public housing estate in a brownfield development area in Hong Kong of the disused Kai Tak Airport. It consists of six residential buildings completed in 2013. It houses around 5,200 flats for 13,300 residents and shar ...

Kowloon City Kowloon City is an area in New Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is part of Kowloon City District. Compared with the council area of Kowloon City District, the Kowloon City area is History As early as in the Qin dynasty (221 BCE – 206 BCE), ...

. The incidents were dubbed the "Hong Kong water-gate" in July 2015. In the lead-up to the

2020 Hong Kong legislative election The 2020 Hong Kong Legislative Council election was originally scheduled on 6 September 2020 until it was postponed by the government. On 31 July 2020, Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced that she was invoking the Emergency Regulations Ordinan ...

, Wong received the highest amount of opposition among Democratic Party members in the party's special convention to decide its candidates. Following her loss in the

2020 Hong Kong pro-democracy primaries The 2020 Hong Kong pro-democracy primaries were held on 11 and 12 July 2020 for selecting the numbers of pro-democracy candidates for the subsequently postponed 2020 Legislative Council election to maximise the chance for the pro-democrats to ...

, Wong announced that she would retire from the Legislative Council and not participate in the upcoming LegCo election as a candidate.

Arrests

Wong was arrested on 1 November 2020, along with six other democrats, in connection with the melee that had broken out in the LegCo on 8 May 2020. On that day,

Starry Lee 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 ...

, the incumbent chair of the House Committee of the Legislative Council, had attempted to commence a meeting of the committee after extended stalling tactics of the pan-democratic camp over the previous months. On 6 January 2021, Wong 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. Wong was released on bail on 7 January. In late February 2021, after being charged with subversion, Wong was remanded in custody again along with other 46 activists and politicians. On 4 March, she was among only 15 of the 47 to be granted bail, however, she remained in custody pending an appeal by the Hong Kong government. Her bail application was later upheld by the High Court and she was released on bail. On 1 April 2021, High Court judge Esther Toh explained her rationale to release her on bail. Toh explained that Wong had not signed the declarations of hardcore democrats in maintaining the idea of, once elected, use the power of veto to block the budget and therefore force 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 Sec ...

to give in to the five demands of the 2019 protests. Toh also highlighted occasions in which Wong voted in favour of government measures and policies and cited her low-risk to reoffend. However, Wong must present herself before the court on 31 May 2021, when hearings on the subversion case resume.

Personal life

Wong identifies as a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

. She decided not to be a traditional housewife, choosing not to get married early in order to focus on her studies. In 2001, she married Shae Wan-chaw, an associate professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, at the age of 42.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wong, Helena Living people Hong Kong Democratic Foundation politicians United Democrats of Hong Kong politicians Democratic Party (Hong Kong) politicians HK LegCo Members 2012–2016 HK LegCo Members 2016–2021 Alumni of the Chinese University of Hong Kong University of California, Los Angeles alumni Hong Kong Polytechnic University faculty Hong Kong educators Hong Kong feminists Hong Kong Christians 1959 births Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2012–2017 Hong Kong political prisoners 21st-century Hong Kong women politicians