Wong Sing-chi

Wong Sing-chi
黃成智
Wong Sing-chi after the 2016 Legislative Council by-election
Member of the Legislative Council
In office 1 October 2000 – 30 September 2004
Preceded by	Cyd Ho
Succeeded by	James Tien
Constituency	New Territories East
In office 1 October 2008 – 30 September 2012
Preceded by	James Tien
Succeeded by	Ray Chan
Constituency	New Territories East
Personal details
Born	11 October 1957 Hong Kong
Political party	Meeting Point (until 1994) Democratic Party (1994–2015) Third Side (2015–present)
Residence	Hong Kong
Alma mater	Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Occupation	Legislative Councillor
Religion	Christianity
Website	www.wongsingchi.org

Wong Sing-chi
Traditional Chinese	黃成智
Simplified Chinese	黄成智
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Huáng Chéngzhì

Nelson Wong Sing-chi (born 11 October 1957)^[1] is a Hong Kong politician and social worker. He had been member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong between 2000–04 and 2008–12. He was the founding member of the Democratic Party before he was expelled in 2015 for his support in the government's constitutional reform proposals. He is also former member of the North District Council and Regional Council. He is currently member of the Third Side, a moderate political party.

Background

Wong was born in Hong Kong in 1957. He obtained his Bachelor of Social Work from Hong Kong Polytechnic University and was a social worker before joining Hong Kong politics. He was the member of the Meeting Point a liberal party and was first elected to the North District Board in Choi Yuen with party mate Tik Chi-yuen. He became the founding member of the Democratic Party when the Meeting Point was merged with the United Democrats of Hong Kong.

He lost his seat in North District Council in the 1994 District Board elections to So Sai-chi of the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), who became his long-time rival in the area. He was nevertheless elected to the Regional Council in 1995 and served until it was abolished in 1999.

Legco member

Wong ran for the Legislative Council (Legco) in New Territories North in 1995 but lost to DAB's Cheung Hon-chung. He ran in New Territories East in the 1998 Legislative Council election, placing second on the list behind Andrew Cheng Kar-foo and helped Cheng to get elected. In the 2000 election, the Democratic Party split Cheng and Wong into two tickets to avoid wasting the votes as the electoral mechanism was largest remainder method and the strategy got them both elected with less votes.

He lost in 2004 through a weak electoral strategy as the all the pro-democratic candidates formed a combined party-list in the election, Wong was placed in fourth behind Andrew Cheng, Emily Lau Wai-hing and Ronny Tong Ka-wah who all got elected. Before that he also lost his seat in the District Council in 2003 as his changed his constituency to challenge So Sai-chi in Choi Yuen.

He returned to the Legco in 2008 in a successful strategic voting with Andrew Cheng. In June 2010, he voted with his party in favour of the government's 2012 constitutional reform package, which included the late amendment by the Democratic Party – accepted by the Beijing government – to hold a popular vote for five new District Council functional constituencies.^[2] He also returned to North District Council in 2007 election, running in Shek Wu Hui. In 2011, he was defeated by So Sai-chi again in Choi Yuen.

Wong was defeated in the 2012 election, which left the Democratic Party only one representative in New Territories East, Emily Lau.

Gay rights

A member of the Democratic Party, Wong is a Christian and a social conservative in the pan-democracy camp. Wong opposed amendments to the Domestic Violence Ordinance that would offer gay couples equal protection under the law on the grounds that the amendment would include same-sex relationships as if they were couples. He opposed the government would take actions go a step further and legalise same-sex marriage.^[3] This position give him as the same attitude with other pro-Beijing conservative members in Legco, such as Priscilla Leung. Wong's conservative stances made him different with other pan-democrats.

Third Side

In July 2015, Wong was expelled from the party due to his defiance of the party line and clandestine proposal in support of the government's constitutional reform package. He later set up a moderate party, the Third Side, with ex-Democrat Tik Chi-yuen which aimed for a middle-of-the-road approach between the pan-democrats and pro-Beijing camp.

He ran in the 2015 District Council election in his North District base but was not elected. In 2016, he also ran in the Legislative Council by-election in New Territories East, receiving 17,295 votes, 4 percent of the total ballots and failed to return to the Legislative Council.^[4]

References

1. Wong, Nelson. "黃成智個人檔案" [Nelson Wong Personal Profile]. Office of Wong Chi Sing District Councilor. Retrieved 19 September 2010.
2. Cheers and jeers for political reform vote, SCMP, Gary Cheung, Albert Wong and Fanny WY Fung, 25 June 2010
3. Gay sex violence row hits Democrat
4. "2016 Legislative Council Geographical Constituency New Territories By-election - Election Result". Electoral Affairs Commission. 29 February 2016.

External links

• Official site of Wong Sing-chi