Lau Wong-fat
| Lau Wong-fat 劉皇發 |
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| Member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | 15 October 1936 Hong Kong |
| Political party | Economic Synergy, Business and Professionals Alliance[1] |
| Residence | Hong Kong |
| Lau Wong-fat | |||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 劉皇發 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 刘皇发 | ||||||
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Lau Wong-fat, GBM, GBS, OBE, JP (Born 15 October 1936, Tuen Mun, Hong Kong) is a member of the Hong Kong Executive Council as well as the Hong Kong Legislative Council, representing the Heung Yee Kuk constituency.
He is chairman of the powerful Heung Yee Kuk, which represents the interests of the New Territories establishment, and chairman of Tuen Mun District Council.[2]
This political strength in rural Hong Kong has been morphed into power centrally and with Beijing. For this, together with his extensive ownership of land and property, he is known as the "King of the New Territories" (新界王) or the "Land Emperor of the New Territories" (新界土皇帝).[3]
Billionaire[4] Lau is politically identified as a leftist, part of the pro-Beijing camp. He is a member of the CPPCC, and hence has a close relationship with the Chinese Communist Party.
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[edit] New Territories politics
At the age of 22, Lau was selected by local villagers to be a representative of Tuen Mun. Four years later he became chairman of the Tuen Mun Rural committee.[5]
In 1970, he became chairman of the Tuen Mun Rural Committee, a position he held for 41 years, until in April 2011 the committee amended its constitution to limit any chairman to no more than two four-year terms.[6]
His longstanding membership of the Rural Committee is as village representative for Lung Kwu Tan. For many years unopposed, in January 2011, he faced the village's approximately 600 voters, after a challenge following the controversy of his failure to disclose some of his property holdings. He and his ally won comfortably, with even the defeated young candidates claiming "I just want to learn things from Fat Shuk [Uncle Fat]."[7]
As the rural committee chairman, Lau was automatically an ex-officio member of Tuen Mun District Council, and became its chairman in 1982. He briefly lost this position in April 2011 with his ousting from leadership of the Rural Committee. After failing to win a seat in the November 2011 District Council elections, and against protests by Rural Committee members and local villagers, he was directly appointed back to the council by Chief Executive Donald Tsang, and on 4 January 2012 was elected by District Councillors back into the post of council chairman.[6][8]
Since 1980 Lau has been chairman of the Heung Yee Kuk, which represents established local interests in the New Territories, having been elected to his ninth term in June 2011.[4] This position is the core of his power.[9]
[edit] Hong Kong politics
In 1985 Lau became a member of the Regional Council. He then joined the Liberal Party and the New Territories constituency.
In 1991 he was elected to Legco, representing the Heung Yee Kuk functional constituency and held the seat (including as a member of the Provisional Legislative Council, 1997–98) until 2004.[10][4]
In the 2004 Legislative Council elections, he stood in the 'District Councils' functional constituency and won, with the help of mainland and pro-government forces. The reason for the move was to ensure that the seat vacated by Ip Kwok-him, a member of the DAB (then called the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong), was taken by a pro-government member. Another rural leader took the kuk seat. A year later, Lau was awarded the Grand Bauhinia Medal, the highest honour the government can bestow on a member of the community.
There was then a further twist. So that Ip could run in the 2008 election in his former constituency (District Councils), Lau stood for and of course re-won the Heung Yee Kuk seat. It was shortly afterwards, in January 2009, that Lau was appointed to Exco, a predicted move that was seen as a reward for his cooperation.[4]
Thus he is now a member of both Exco and Legco, as well chairman of the Kuk, and of Tuen Mun District Council, among his various other positions.
Lau's performance in Legco is considered one of the worst as he has not initiated a motion since 1998.
[edit] Political record
In 2009 and 2010, Lau supported the disputed HK$66.9 billion funding of Express Rail, and advocated the controversial reform of methods for selecting the CE and LegCo.
He was at the centre of the declaration-of-interest scandal in 2010. However, Legco ultimately refrained from investigating Lau, for unknown reasons. This has caused some people believe that there was collusion between Lau and the government for mutual gain.[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]
[edit] China politics
Lau is a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.[20]
[edit] Controversy
[edit] Quitting the Liberal Party
In September 2008, Selina Chow, the former chairwoman of Liberal Party, complained that Lau Wong Fat had been canvassing for the DAB's Cheung Hok-ming, her main competitor, and this led to her defeat in the Hong Kong legislative election, 2008. The Liberal Party's acting chairwoman, Miriam Lau, later confirmed that Lau Wong Fat had left the party.[21]
[edit] Property disclosure incident
In October 2010, Lau was publicly criticised for his purchase of 19 properties in Yuen Long through companies linked to him after he failed to disclose at least some of the acquisitions to the council within the required 14 days.[22][23] In a span of 10 days he revised his declared total ownership of land three times, bringing further criticism from leading figures such as Legco House Committee chairwoman Miriam Lau and deputy chairwoman of Legco's Committee on Members' Interests Emily Lau.[24][25] His portfolio was later revealed to contain a large amount of land in Hong Kong with 724 plots of land and he was described as "a huge landlord" by Miriam Lau.[5][26] He owns partly or in full the following:
| Plots of land owned | Location[26] |
|---|---|
| 521 plots | Tuen Mun |
| 122 plots | North District |
| 33 plots | Yuen Long |
| 4 plots | islands near Hong Kong |
| 2 plots | Tai Po |
| 2 plots | Mainland China |
Together with his family and through various companies, he owns 40 commercial and residential properties including houses and flats. Prior to October 2010 he registered only 337 plots of land.[26] He failed to declare the purchases of three houses in Yuen Long in April and 16 flats in Yoho Midtown through Carofaith Investment, in which he holds 40% stake.[26] Another company controlled by his son Kenneth Lau Ip-keung and Lau's daughter-in-law also bought eight flats in Yoho. His son sold three of them making a profit of HK$800,000 at a time when the government was trying to cool real estate property prices in 2010.[26]
[edit] Background and personal life
Lau's self-declared educational record is that he attended Ling Shan College (靈山中學) (possibly written 'Ling Saan High School') but the identity of this institution is not clear.[2][27]
He is married to LAU NG Mui-chu with five children including Kenneth Lau Ip-keung, who is also a member of Tuen Mun District Council.[27]
His business holdings are centred on his chairmanship of Wing Tung Yick (Holdings) Ltd.[1]
[edit] Other positions, awards and recognition
In 1977, a new school was named after him: Lau Wong-fat secondary school in Kowloon.[28][29]
He is an honorary court member of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.[20]
In 1983, he succeeded Tang Yuek Fan as chairman of the New Territories Heung Yee Kuk Yuen Long District Secondary School.
Since 2004 he has represented Hong Kong to perform the Lunar New year kau cim ceremony, succeeding Patrick Ho in the role.[30]
In 2005 he received the Grand Bauhinia Medal, Hong Kong's highest honour.[20]
[edit] External links
- List of positions held by Lau Wong-fat, Webb-site
[edit] References
- ^ a b LAU Wong-fat – Legco biography
- ^ a b Legco.gov.hk. "Legco.gov.hk." 97–98 legco memo. Retrieved on 9 October 2010.
- ^ Big5.ifeng.com. ""疑洩露樓市新政 香港“新界王”被調查". ifeng.com Retrieved on 9 October 2010.
- ^ a b c d Bridge Builder, Christine Loh, Civic Exchange
- ^ a b Baumag.com.hk. ""劉皇發膺“新界地王". Retrieved on 9 October 2010.
- ^ a b First change in decades for Tuen Mun, The Standard, 4 May 2011
- ^ Lau holds village seat with election victory, The Standard, 24 Jan 2011
- ^ Lau Wong-fat returns as DC chairman, The Standard, 5 Jan 2012
- ^ Heung Yee Kuk remains Lau's turf, The Standard, 2 June 2011
- ^ Rthk.org. "新任行會成員劉皇發履歷". Rthk.org Retrieved on 9 October 2010.
- ^ "劉皇發申報所有土地物業". Takungpao.com. 27 December 2010. http://www.takungpao.com/hm/top/2010-10-10/416386.html. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
- ^ 立法會不設委員會查劉皇發
- ^ "劉皇發買樓漏申報" (in (Chinese)). The-sun.on.cc. 28 September 2010. http://the-sun.on.cc/cnt/news/20100928/00407_014.html. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
- ^ "劉皇發，你當香港人傻的嗎？". Martinoei.wordpress.com. 27 September 2010. http://martinoei.wordpress.com/2010/09/27/%E5%8A%89%E7%9A%87%E7%99%BC%EF%BC%8C%E4%BD%A0%E7%95%B6%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E4%BA%BA%E5%82%BB%E7%9A%84%E5%97%8E%EF%BC%9F. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
- ^ "全國政協副主席劉延東會見香港區議會主席訪京團". Big5.fmprc.gov.cn. 18 May 2005. http://big5.fmprc.gov.cn/gate/big5/www.fmcoprc.gov.hk/chn/szyw/t196128.htm. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
- ^ "劉皇發：政改要得寸進尺". sina.com. 24 June 2010. http://dailynews.sina.com/bg/chn/chnpolitics/mingpao/20100624/00481580895.html. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
- ^ 劉皇發盼盡快解決高鐵爭議
- ^ "立法會議員監察 《2006－2007年度監察報告》". http://www.legco-monitors.org/doc/press_release2007.doc. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
- ^ "民間考勤 功組議員表現差". Hk.epochtimes.com. http://hk.epochtimes.com/10/10/11/125723.htm. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
- ^ a b c Info.gov.hk. "Info.gov.hk." Chief Executive appoints new members to Executive Council. Retrieved on 9 October 2010.
- ^ "Lau Wong-fat quits Liberal Party". Rthk.org.hk. http://www.rthk.org.hk/rthk/news/englishnews/20080911/news_20080911_56_522030.htm. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
- ^ Lau Wong-fat admits failing to declare banned property deals, SCMP, Tanna Chong, 28 Sep 2010
- ^ Unfitting behaviour, SCMP, Albert Cheng, 2 Oct 2010
- ^ Lau Wong-fat's portfolio grows bigger by the day, SCMP
- ^ South China Morning Post. "SCMP." "Lau Wong-fat says property deals will be accounted for". Retrieved on 9 October 2010.
- ^ a b c d e South China Morning Post. "SCMP." "Lau Wong-fat's portfolio grows bigger by the day." Retrieved on 9 October 2010.
- ^ a b Legco bio 1998–99
- ^ Lung Kong WFSL Lau Wong fat secondary school. "Lwfss.edu.hk." School intro. Retrieved on 9 October 2010.
- ^ Liberal Party Lau Wong Fat[dead link]
- ^ Sina.com. "港求得上籤今年繼續旺." Sina.com Retrieved on 9 October 2010.
| Legislative Council of Hong Kong | ||
|---|---|---|
| New seat | Member of Legislative Council Representative for Heung Yee Kuk constituency 1991–1997 |
Replaced by Provisional Legislative Council |
| Member of Legislative Council Representative for Heung Yee Kuk constituency 1998–2004 |
Succeeded by Daniel Lam |
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| Preceded by Ip Kwok-him |
Member of Legislative Council Representative for District Councils constituency 2004–2008 |
Succeeded by Ip Kwok-him |
| Preceded by Daniel Lam |
Member of Legislative Council Representative for Heung Yee Kuk constituency 2008 – present |
Incumbent |
| Order of precedence | ||
| Previous: Lau Kong Wah Non-official member of the Executive Council |
Hong Kong order of precedence Non-official member of the Executive Council |
Succeeded by Lawrence Lau Non-official member of the Executive Council |
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- Members of the Executive Council of Hong Kong
- Members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong
- 1936 births
- Living people
- Hong Kong entrepreneurs
- Hong Kong politicians
- Hong Kong people of Hakka descent
- Recipients of the Grand Bauhinia Medal
- Officers of the Order of the British Empire
- Indigenous inhabitants of the New Territories in Hong Kong
- Members of the Regional Council of Hong Kong
- Heung Yee Kuk
- Liberal Party (Hong Kong) politicians
