Priscilla Leung

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Dr the Honourable

Priscilla Leung Mei-fun

SBS JP
梁美芬
Priscilla Leung.jpg
Dr Priscilla Leung
Member of the Legislative Council
Assumed office
1 January 2008
Preceded bySeat Created
ConstituencyKowloon West
Member of the Kowloon City District Council
In office
1 January 2008 – 31 December 2019
Preceded byChan Ka-wai
ConstituencyWhampoa East
Personal details
Born (1960-11-18) 18 November 1960 (age 60)
Hong Kong
NationalityChinese
Political partyBusiness and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong
Kowloon West New Dynamic
Spouse(s)Wang Guiguo
ResidenceTing Kau, Hong Kong
Alma materSt. Paul's Co-educational College
Chinese University of Hong Kong (BSSc)
Renmin University (LLM, JSD)
University of Hong Kong (PCLL)
OccupationBarrister
Associate professor
ProfessionLegislative Councillor
Priscilla Leung
Chinese梁美芬

Priscilla Leung Mei-fun SBS JP (Chinese: 梁美芬; born 18 November 1960, Hong Kong) is a barrister and Hong Kong Legislative Councillor, representing the Kowloon West constituency since 2008. She was a member of Kowloon City District Council.[1][2]

Legal career[]

Leung began her legal career in the China department at the law firm Johnson Stokes & Master.[citation needed] She is a barrister and an associate professor at the City University of Hong Kong's[3] School of Law, where her husband, Wang Guiguo, was the Dean. She has taught at the School of Law for the past 24 years and specialises in Chinese Law, Hong Kong Basic Law and conflict of laws between mainland China and Hong Kong.

Political career[]

Leung has been a Legislative Councillor since 2008, currently representing the Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong. The 'independent' label she first stood under was challenged by political opponents who accused her of having the support of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government and the pro-Beijing Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions, which didn't have a candidate running in the constituency.[4] Leung has been a supporter of most government bills and often crash with pro-democracy lawmakers.

Leung is a social conservative, opposed to and equal rights for same-sex couples.[5] In 2019, she criticised the Airport Authority and the MTR Corporation for reversing their decision to ban a Cathay Pacific ad featuring a same-sex couple holding hands. Former lawmaker Cyd Ho remarked, "People like Priscilla Leung, who dare to teach law at university and get enough votes to sit in Legco, have no idea about human rights or equality."[6]

She is chairman of the Legislative Council's Panel on Administration of Justice and Legal Services.[7]

Leung was active in opposition to the pro-democracy Occupy Central/Umbrella movements that culminated in widespread protests in 2014.

Controversies and views[]

On 13 January 2010, fellow legislator Albert Chan said that some people "teach dog shit law" (教狗屎法律 in chinese meaning), in an apparent reference to Leung.[8] Chan refused to withdraw his comment and LegCo president Tsang Yok-sing subsequently ruled that no LegCo rules had been violated. Leung, along with six other legislators, then protested against Tsang's decision, insisting that Albert Chan had defamed her, and walked out of the chamber to boycott the meeting.

LegCo members' resignations and by-election[]

On 21 January 2010, in a response to the quasi-referendum on universal suffrage, triggered by the resignation of five pan-democrat members of LegCo, Leung announced she would introduce a private member's bill to forbid legislators who resign from running in elections in the same four-year term.[9] Ronny Tong criticised her move as a contravention of the Basic Law: he said such a bill would infringe the right to stand for elections protected under Article 26 and would be inconsistent with Article 74 which prohibits individual legislators from tabling bills that relate to the political structure.[10]

A less-extreme government bill, imposing a six-month prohibition on running for election after resignation, was passed in May 2012, in the face of filibustering efforts from legislators Leung Kwok-hung and Albert Chan.

Scouts for Occupy Central Movement[]

In July 2014, she championed the Hong Kong Government's establishment of the "Voluntary Scouts".[11]

Covid-19[]

On 24 December 2020, Leung criticized the Hong Kong government's response to coronavirus disease 2019, stating that it was "worse than that of the United Kingdom."[12] On that day, the United Kingdom reported a cumulative total of 2,149,551 cases (3.233% of its total population),[13] whereas Hong Kong reported a cumulative total of 8,353 cases (0.112% of its total population),[14] a rate per capita of about 29 times less than that of the United Kingdom.

Primaries[]

In January 2021, following the arrest of 53 pro-democracy figures in Hong Kong for organizing primaries for the 2020 Legislative Council, Leung stated that the government should investigate whether the primaries were a violation of the National Security Law.[15]

Dual citizenship[]

Leung has claimed that dual nationality is not allowed in Hong Kong,[16] even though high-level government officials, including Carrie Lam, Tam Yiu-chung, and Tung Chee-hwa have children with foreign citizenship.[17]

Electoral changes[]

In February 2021, Leung said that a special committee should be created to vet people who run for elections, claiming that some had been voted into office and then called for Hong Kong independence or self-determination.[18] Leung said that creating a "eligibility vetting committee" to filter out certain candidates would close the loophole.[18] Leung also called for the education system to be run by "patriots," stating that "We need to demonstrate 'patriots governing Hong Kong' in the city's education, politics and law."[19]

Education[]

Publications[]

Leung published different articles and books, in English and Chinese, on the areas of Chinese Law, Hong Kong Basic Law and conflict of laws between mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

  • China Law Reports. Butterworths Asia. (1992–94)
  • Legal Reform of China (co-ed). Joint Publishing Hong Kong. (1994)
  • China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission Awards. Sweet & Maxwell Asia.(1998)
  • Comparative Studies of Family Law between mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Joint Publishing Hong Kong. (2003)
  • The Hong Kong Basic Law: Hybrid of Chinese Law and Common Law. LexisNexis. (2007)

Awards[]

Leung was awarded the Ten Outstanding Young Persons award for the year 2000 by the Christian group Junior Chamber International Hong Kong who, in 2015, claimed membership of about 2,000.[20][21]

References[]

  1. ^ Priscilla Leung biodata Archived 4 December 2005 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "Recipients of HKSAR Honours and Awards". Archived from the original on 26 October 2018. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  3. ^ "Full-Time Staff, School of Law, City University of Hong Kong (CHK)". Cityu.edu.hk. Archived from the original on 1 March 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  4. ^ "Battle for Kowloon West heats up". The Standard. Hong Kong. 27 August 2008. Archived from the original on 10 September 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  5. ^ Diplomat, Tyler Roney, The. "Is Hong Kong Taking a Backward Step on LGBT Rights?". The Diplomat. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  6. ^ "Legislator, 16 groups rail against LGBT movement as same-sex ad goes on display". South China Morning Post. 26 May 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  7. ^ "Panel on Administration of Justice and Legal Services (Membership)". Legislative Council of the HKSAR of the PRC. Hong Kong. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  8. ^ [1] Archived 17 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ "RTHK English News". RTHK. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  10. ^ "ˇ弒母殺妹魔童判入小欖". Sing Tao Daily. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  11. ^ "陳政制意見勿隨便浪費警力 梁美芬倡組志願軍處理群眾運動". Ming Pao. Hong Kong. 4 July 2014. Archived from the original on 12 June 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
  12. ^ "Hong Kong government gets a skewering from pro-Beijing allies over pandemic failures ｜publisher=Apple Daily". Apple Daily 蘋果日報 (in Chinese). Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  13. ^ Mohdin, Aamna (23 December 2020). "UK records 744 more Covid deaths, the highest since 29 April". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  14. ^ "Hong Kong logs 53 Covid-19 cases as police hunt for woman who fled quarantine". South China Morning Post. 23 December 2020. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  15. ^ "What sparked Hong Kong's biggest mass arrests under national security law?". South China Morning Post. 6 January 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  16. ^ Kong, Dimsumdaily Hong (10 January 2021). "Legislative Councillor in Hong Kong proposes central government to abolish rights to dual nationality for HK citizens". Dimsum Daily. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  17. ^ "Hong Kong's ruling elite fight to extinguish freedom whilst clutching foreign passports, money and property abroad". Hong Kong Free Press HKFP. 4 July 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  18. ^ Jump up to: a b "Priscilla Leung backs candidate vetting panel idea - RTHK". news.rthk.hk. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  19. ^ "Beijing official, pro-establishment figures agree on need to put 'patriots' in charge". South China Morning Post. 1 March 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  20. ^ "Past HKTOYP Awardees". Junior Chamber International Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  21. ^ "Introduction to JCI". Junior Chamber International Hong Kong. Retrieved 5 August 2015.

External links[]

Political offices
Preceded by
 Member of Kowloon City District Council
Representative for Whampoa East
2008–2019 		Succeeded by
Legislative Council of Hong Kong
New seat Member of Legislative Council
Representative for Kowloon West
2008–present 		Incumbent
Party political offices
New political party Chairperson of Kowloon West New Dynamic
2008–present 		Incumbent
Order of precedence
Preceded by
Chan Kin-por
Member of the Legislative Council 		Hong Kong order of precedence
Member of the Legislative Council 		Succeeded by
Paul Tse
Member of the Legislative Council
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