Professional Forum (), formerly known as the Breakfast Group () and The Alliance (), was a loose

political group A political group is a group consisting of political parties or legislators of aligned ideologies. A technical group is similar to a political group, but with members of differing ideologies. International terms Equivalent terms are used differ ...

of the

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

politicians in the Legislative Council in

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 ...

. In October 2012, the group formed the

Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong The Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong (BPA) is a pro-business pro-Beijing political party in Hong Kong. Chaired by Lo Wai-kwok, the party is currently the second-largest party in the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, holding eigh ...

(BPA) with other LegCo members from the pro-business sectors.

Breakfast Group

The Breakfast Group was set up in 1991 in 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 ...

by Simon Ip Sik-on and Eric Li Ka-cheung and consisted of four other legislators elected through the

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 ...

or appointed by the

Governor of Hong Kong The governor of Hong Kong was the representative of the British Crown in Hong Kong from 1843 to 1997. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council and commander-in-chief of the British Forces Overseas Hong Kong. ...

. Representing their each professional sectors' interests, they had no clear political affiliations and were considered as relatively moderate and independent and acted as a third force between

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 ...

and

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 ...

camps, although it was largely pro-government. In 1994, the Breakfast Group members Simon Ip and Martin Gilbert Barrow, who said they would vote for the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

's amendment on

Chris Patten Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes, (; born 12 May 1944) is a British politician who was the 28th and last Governor of Hong Kong from 1992 to 1997 and Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1992. He was made a life pe ...

's constitutional reform proposals, however abstained at last which resulted in the defeat of the Liberals' amendment, while Timothy Ha Wing-ho voted against the amendment and voted for Patten's proposals. During the 2000–2004 sessions the Breakfast Group had seven Legislative Councillors, led by Eric Li from the

Accountancy Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non financial information about economic entities such as businesses and corporations. Accounting, which has been called the "language ...

until his LegCo retirement in 2004 and included Bernard Chan ( Insurance constituency),

Raymond Ho Chung-tai Raymond Ho Chung-tai (, born 23 March 1939 in Hong Kong with family roots in Shunde, Guangdong) was, from 1998 to 2012, a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (Legco), representing the engineering industry in functional constituencies se ...

(

Engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

Kaizer Lau Ping-cheung Kaizer Lau Ping-cheung, GBS (born 3 October 1951, Chiu Chow, Guangdong, China) is a surveyor and was the member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong in 2000–04 for the Architectural, Surveying and Planning constituency and non executive di ...

( Architectural, Surveying and Planning constituency),

Abraham Shek Lai-him Abraham Shek Lai-him Gold Bauhinia Star, GBS Justice of the Peace, JP or Abraham Razack (; born Razack Ebrahim Abdul; 24 June 1945) is a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (Legco), representing the real estate and construction ...

( Real Estate and Construction constituency),

Lo Wing-lok Dr Lo Wing-lok, JP (; 13 September 1954 – 9 May 2015) was a Hong Kong doctor and politician. He was the Legislative Councillor for the Medical functional constituency from 2000 to 2004. He was the vice-chairman of the pro-democracy League of ...

( Medical constituency) and Ng Leung-sing ( Election Committee constituency).

The Alliance

The Breakfast Group renamed into the Alliance in October 2004 after the 2004 LegCo elections by remaining group members Bernard Chan, Raymond Ho and Abraham Shek. New members

Patrick Lau Sau-shing Patrick Lau Sau-shing is a Hong Kong architect, legislative councillor, educator and civil servant. He had been a representative on the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo) as a member for the Architectural, Surveying and Planning Functi ...

(Architectural, Surveying and Planning constituency) and Lui Ming-wah ( Industrial (Second) constituency) joined into their groups. Bernard Chan was appointed member of the Executive Council on 12 October 2004.

Professional Forum

The Group renamed itself Professional Forum following the 2008 elections. The Forum consists of four members, Abraham Shek, Patrick Lau, Raymond Ho and Priscilla Leung Mei-Fun who was elected through the

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 ...

geographical constituency In Hong Kong, geographical constituencies, as opposed to functional constituencies, are elected by all eligible voters according to geographically demarcated constituencies. There are currently 5 geographical constituencies in Hong Kong, returnin ...

. In October 2012, the group formed the

with other LegCo members from the pro-business sectors.

References

{{Hong Kong political parties 2008 establishments in Hong Kong 2012 disestablishments in Hong Kong Defunct political parties in Hong Kong Political parties disestablished in 2012 Political parties established in 2008