Election ’16: The rural party line

More roads for Lantau, relocation of cattle, improved sewerage works, expansion of Mui Wo tourism. If those seem familiar they should. They are the demands of South Lantau rural committees, so it is no surprise they should be the main planks of Leung Che-cheung's Lantau platform. Leung, the sitting member for New Territories West, is a prominent Heung Yee Kuk politician as well as top of one of the DAB lists for NT West. The kuk is pro-government but not necessarily pro-DAB. Lau Wong-fat was a member of the Liberal Party for some years, and in recent years kuk leaders have canvassed setting up their own party (that would be a milestone; they already have their own LegCo seat).

Leung, 58, has leveraged his rural and DAB power bases to carve out a successful career. He was chairman of the Yuen Long District Council from 2008-15 and head of the chairman of Yuen Long DAB since 2009. He joined the Hong Kong election committee (that elects the CE) in 2011 and has been in LegCo since 2012.

But he has had his setbacks, too, most notably losing his district council chairmanship last year, suggesting he doesn’t have full kuk support.  As top of the second DAB list (no. 9) he is likely to be re-elected.

In his platform he is completely on-board with the rural committees’ demands for a circular highway, that is, building a north-south link from Mui Wo to Tung Chung and a coastal road from Tung Chung to Tai O as well as upgrading the existing roads.

He has also promised to “properly deal with the stray cattle issue,” which is code for removing cattle from their current locations, though he stresses cattle should not be harmed.

It was recently rumoured that cattle may be moved to Sokos Islands. That surely isn’t Leung’s idea. He advocates bringing medical tourism to Sokos and Peng Chau.

Other policy planks:

• Reopen the Heung Yee Kuk Southern District Secondary School in Mui Wo.
• Expand Mui Wo and Silvermine Bay tourism
• Upgrade rural broadband
• More parking places in Lantau
• Improve rural sewerage systems
• Reduce ferry prices.
• Opposition to Umbrella Movement, HK independence

Rating:  If you’re looking to vote the government/development/pro-Beijing ticket Leung’s the one. Vote 9. 

Contact: lcc.ntw@dab.org.hk