The remuneration of a Member of the Legislative Council in Hong Kong is rather meager as compared with overseas peers.

To encourage more people, especially young people, to enter politics with the district councils as the starting point, Rita Fan, former president of the Legislative Council, hopes the government will treat a legislator's work as a job or career rather than only public services.

"Young people who aspire to enter politics or become lawmakers should consider the benefits and the price they will have to pay. From the purely financial point of view, a political career is not worthwhile at all," Fan said.

"However, being a lawmaker is not primarily about money. Apart from fame and a higher social status, a lawmaker can also influence the government's policy decisions. So judging from the large number of people taking part in Legislative Council elections, they do not want to do it just for money," she said.

Fan recalled that during the later part of her tenure, the remuneration of a lawmaker was some HK$57,000 per month and that was equivalent to that of the head of a primary school. (Note: It has been adjusted to HK$69,430 per month effective October 1, 2009).

"That was still far below that of government officials or civil servants who come to answer to the Legislative Council, knowing that many of the members do not hold any full-time jobs," she commented.

Fan further disclosed that while she was in office, she had asked the government to provide medical and retirement benefits for the Legislative Council Members.

"I proposed that lawmakers could seek medical services from Hospital Authority clinics in the same way as civil servants, yet the government refused. As for retirement, the government has agreed to provide an end-of-term gratuity (equivalent to 15 percent of their remuneration) effective this term," she said.

"If we want to attract more young people to enter politics and start with the district councils, the government should provide them better benefits so that they can see the future," she suggested.

Fan could not agree more that a lawmaker's job is not an easy one. Apart from meetings from Monday to Saturday, they need also to join activities of their districts or professions on Sunday.

"It is a job of 12-14 hours per day, seven days a week," she said. "More importantly, lawmakers have no privacy, because people are always interested to know about their lives and private matters."

During her tenure, Fan had said the relation between the executive and legislative branches is like the cord of a musical instrument that is sometimes loose or tight. She also described the government and the legislature as two lovers who love to hate each together.

Though Fan has retired from the legislature for more than a year, she is aware that executive and legislative relations remain more or less the same as before.

She reckons that as the government and the legislature stand on different footholds, it is natural that they see things from different angles and perspectives.

"The lovely thing about Hong Kong is that it is pluralistic society that accommodates different voices," she said. "Even though you have opinions that differ from those of the other side, it does not mean you cannot communicate with them. Knowing that you will not have perpetual friends or foes in politics, the best thing to do is to respect one another, without acting excitedly or emotionally."

Referring to the string of disruptive behaviors such as throwing toy bananas and crossing the floor to confront government officials in the chamber, Fan said she could not assume what action she would take to maintain discipline if she were still sitting in the lofty presidential seat.

"Even when I was president, I did not know what would happen at each meeting. If something happened, I simply dealt with the situation in my own way," she said. "Luckily, my style was accepted by the majority of the lawmakers. For if they did not cooperate, my last resort was no more than to ask the concerned lawmaker(s) to leave the chamber."

She further described the Legislative Council meetings as a "group play". If Members demonstrate accommodativeness and cooperation while expressing their opinions, the flow of the meetings will become smoother, she said.

Regarding inevitable political in-fighting and sniping, she said: "If the citizens see that the Legislative Council can persuade the government to take on board public opinions, the Legislative Council will then enjoy a greater prestige. But if people always find the Legislative Council quarreling and failing to convince the government, the credibility of the Legislative Council will suffer."

(HK Edition 11/20/2009 page4)