The legislative Council (Legco) was to convene a meeting yesterday.　　Legco President Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen had already announced in advance his decision to defer the second oaths of Sixtus Baggio Leung Chung-hang and Yau Wai-ching.　　However, the duo, with the help of some opposition legislators,forced their way into the Chamber to cause chaos.　　The President had to announce an adjournment of the meeting.

　　Such evil behaviour of the Leung-Yau duo and some opposition legislators to completely ignore the Legco President's powers and violently charge into the Chamber must be condemned the most strongly.　　According to the Basic Law, the Legco President has the powers to preside over meetings and to decide on the agenda.　　Respecting the judiciary and following the popular will, Andrew Leung decided to defer the Leung-Yao duo's oath-retaking.　　Such a decision is totally legal, fair and reasonable.　　But the Leung and Yau duo had gone so far as to ignore the President's decision and force their way into the Chamber to interrupt the meeting.　　Such behaviour is cut from the same cloth as their insulting the nation with the word of "Shina" and hurling abuses when taking their oaths earlier, which is completely intolerable by the law and unacceptable.

　　Leung and Yau had failed to complete their oath-taking in accordance with the law the other day.　　The duo in fact have already declined to take their oaths so the office to be occupied by them should be declared vacant, according to the writ petition for a judicial review filed with the High Court by Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying along with Justice Secretary Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung. Under such circumstances, the Leung-Yau duo not only has no chance to retake their oaths but even their qualification being legislators-elect is well in question.They still claimed themselves as legislators and wanted to enter the Chamber yesterday, which was really shameless self-talk.　　Legco's security guards were fully entitled to deny their entry.

　　In this regard, Leung and Yau yesterday still asserted that they had won several ten thousand votes in the earlier legislative election and thus been elected by voters, so no one had the right to ban them from taking their oaths.These are really ravings out of ignorance of the law.　　True, Leung and Yau were elected through geographical constituencies.But being elected and being sworn in are two different matters.Otherwise, the Basic Law and Legco's Rules of Procedure do not need to specifically stipulate on the content of the Oath.Moreover, if being elected is meant to automatically secure an "unshakable" seat, then the Basic Law would have had no need to stipulate on how to disqualify a law-breaking legislator and the Oaths and Declarations Ordinance would have had no need to stipulate that any person who declines or neglects to take an oath duly requested, then "if he has already entered on his office, vacate it, and if he has not entered on his office, be disqualified from entering on it."

　　Therefore, from legal point of view, the duo of Leung and Yau in fact has already been disqualified from entering their office. They are not legislators, so on what grounds could they walk into the Chamber to attend a meeting?And on what grounds could they still demand the Legco President to administer the oath for them?According to the Legco's Rules of Procedure and Hong Kong's laws governing public security, their action in fact is equivalent to unauthorised entry.Not only that security guards are entitled to stop them, the Legco President could also authorize the secretariat to call in the police to deal with it on the spot, arresting and taking away the illegal trespassers. (To Be Continued)

27 October 2016