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The new Legislative Council (LegCo) will commence soon. Given the real and present danger of rising radicalism, it is necessary for all parties concerned to be on guard against attempts to paralyze the SAR government. This author believes preventive efforts should be focused on four areas to thwart radical lawmakers' attempts to paralyze the government by filibustering important policy bills.

The first is that the SAR government must address Hong Kong residents' concerns for real, making attempts by radical forces to block its lawful administration unjustifiable and unpopular. The second is that the pro-establishment parties should reinforce their unified front to crush any conspiracy to force cancellation of important LegCo neetings. The third is the next LegCo must work on a mechanism to terminate filibustering as soon as possible. The fourth is that the president of the LegCo plays a pivotal role in thwarting filibusters by radical opposition lawmakers to ambush the government. It is hoped that the president of the next LegCo will exercise the authority the Basic Law has vested in the post whenever necessary to prevent the opposition camp from paralyzing the government through wanton filibuster.

In the fifth LegCo, the establishmentarians occupy 43 seats while the opposition lawmakers hold 27, more than enough for a critical minority of one-third. It must be noted that radical forces led by People Power (PP) and the League of Social Democrats (LSD) now have a larger presence in the LegCo and are expected to rock the legislature even harder and make it more difficult for the government to do its job.

Memories of stalling tactics by opposition lawmakers that delayed a series of policy bills during the previous LegCo's term in office are still fresh. Many local residents were worried when they learned the four leading radical politicians from PP and LSD are all LegCo members now. Ordinary people have expressed the hope that the legislature will be rid of disruptive behavior stalling government bills. People prefer that lawmakers discuss all issues sincerely for the sake of the public interest and help the government implement policies beneficial to the city's development.

PP founder and Chairman Wong Yuk-man already made it clear his organization and the LSD, headed by "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung, found their collaboration on filibustering key government bills in the previous LegCo quite fruitful. He said they look forward to more of the same in the next four years. In addition, not only radical parties like PP and LSD went all out to paralyze the government, the Democratic Party (DP), widely regarded as the leading moderate force in the opposition camp, joined the filibuster, and the ostensibly moderate but actually radical Civic Party (CP) was even more enthusiastic about this devious enterprise.

A recent public opinion poll showed 38 percent of respondents were concerned about the prospect of increased difficulty for the government in the next four years; 30 percent believed LegCo members should strike a balance between supervising the government and serving the public interest; and 18 percent expressed fear that bills aimed at improving people's living standard will suffer as a result of the actions of opposition lawmakers.

Therefore, the SAR government and pro-establishment LegCo members should make every effort to prevent opposition attempts to ambush the administration by filibustering important policy bills. And the best way to do so is to make policies as indispensable and popular as possible. Outstanding issues such as affordable housing and polarizing problems like the widening wealth gap and distribution of public resources all demand more attention and workable solutions.

In order to defeat the opposition camp's attempts to block important policy bills, the pro-establishment LegCo members must strengthen their unity and work as one to prevent filibustering from succeeding. The previous LegCo left Hong Kong residents a very bad impression because of the opposition camp's blatant political sabotage of the legislative processes of many quality of life-oriented policy bills, but the pro-establishment lawmakers proved they can defeat such attempts if they maintain the majority in attendance required to pass bills.

Filibusters are quite common in parliamentary democracies like the US and Britain, which is why the legislatures in those countries have adopted rules to terminate such maneuvers, which include closure motions and authorizing the head of the assembling to terminate a protracted debate. In Hong Kong there is no mature mechanism yet to limit lawmakers' ability to filibuster at will, but the president of the LegCo can exercise the authority to restrain stalling efforts, according to the Basic Law. That is why it is crucial that the LegCo president act promptly when necessary to protect the public interest by ordering an end to stalling tactics.

The author is chairman of the Business and Professionals Federation of Hong Kong and a veteran current affairs commentator.

(HK Edition 09/20/2012 page3)