Election is never simple, and has
never been simple.
Looking back, I have been a
Council Member of the Hong Kong Medical Association for 9 years. It feels good to be in a Sangha, and I have
learnt much from it. Therefore I have
long ago decided to fight for staying in the Council for another 3 years when
my term ends in 2013.
The usual way to be a Council Member
is to go through the general election held every year. You have to be nominated by a full member of
the HKMA and then seconded by another. Votes
would then be casted by all members via returning their ballots by post. There are 18 Council Members and every year 6
of them finish their 3-year terms. So
every year there are 6 vacancies for Council Members.
The terms for Office Bearers are
different. For the President, the 2
Vice-presidents and the Honorary Treasurer, they serve 2 years. Therefore, there would be an election which
attracts much more attention with cabinets fighting for positions of Office Bearers
and Council Members every alternate year. For the years with just Council Members
election, competition and noise is much less.
Of the 25 members of the Council,
3 of them do not need to undergo the afore-mentioned election process. The Honorary Secretary is nominated by the
President and appointed by the Council. The
Immediate Past President is an ex-officio
member of the Council without election. The
Legislative Councilor of the Medical
Functional Constituency can be invited to be a member by the Council. In some occasions, a Council Member can also
be appointed instead of being elected generally. One example is when one of the serving Council
Members is appointed Honorary Secretary; his vacancy can be filled by a full
member appointed by the Council.
Another occasion when the Council
can appoint a Council Member is after the removal of an existing Council Member
before the expiration of his period of office. This has to be done by extraordinary
resolution. However, it is important to
note that under some specified conditions, the office of a member of the
Council shall ipso facto be vacated. One example is when “an order under Section 21 of the Medical Registration
Ordinance (Cap. 161) has been made against him by the Medical Council of Hong
Kong and such order has been published in Hong Kong Government Gazette under
the provisions of Section 21 (5) of the Medical Registration Ordinance.”
2013 is not the year for Office
Bearers election. Minimal attention was
attracted concerning election. This made
some of the Council Members who had determined to continue to serve in the
Council nearly forget to submit their nomination forms. The result turned out that all the 6 of us
remembered to do so, but no others did. So
no voting is needed. IP Wing Yuk, LO Chi
Fung, SHEA Tat Ming, SHIH Tai Cho, WONG Yee Him and I will serve in the Council
for another 3 years.
I was reminded about the election
by a phone call from my colleague asking me to support him to go for the
Presidency. This, together with CHOI Kin’s
article in the April issue of the HKMA News, confused me. CHOI Kin commented on criteria he considered
essential for the President. Some
members read between the lines and deciphered the article to be referring to
potential candidates. However, the
confusion was that the election for President would be more than a year later! I remembered clearly that the presidential
election took place in 2012. Several
colleagues called to convey their intentions to be the President. Mysteriously, TSE Hung Hing was again elected
President ipso facto without being
challenged. So, how come the campaign
started so early for the election in 2014?
One reason is that the role of
the HKMA becomes more important as she steps more deeply in politics. Her pride as kingmaker in 2012 was but one
illustration. 2014 to 2016 are two
important years for Hong Kong. In 2014,
the 5 Office Bearers’ term will expire. They
are: TSE Hung Hing, CHAN Yee Shing, CHOW Pak Chin, LEUNG Chi Chiu and LAM Tzit Yuen. CHOI Kin’s term will
also expire if TSE Hung Hing is not re-elected President. The 6 Council Members eligible for re-election
will be: CHAN Hau Ngai, CHAN Kit Sheung, HO Chung Ping, HO Hung Kwong, KONG
Ming Hei and PONG Chiu Fai. Who will go
for President? Will there be new faces?
A logical approach is first to
ask whether the present President chooses re-election. TSE Hung Hing will have been President for 4
years, but recent history has a President serving for 6 years. The next focus will be on the 2
Vice-Presidents. The Articles of
Association state that any member who has served in the Council for more than 3
years is eligible for election to be the President. There are other ex-Vice-Presidents. Rumor has it that SHIH Tai Cho will go for
President. He has the advantage of
remaining to be a Council Member till 2016 even if he fails the Presidency. On the other hand, retiring Office Bearers and
Council Members have to consider that they may have to leave the Council if
they fail in the election. Therefore
they need to assess before choosing which posts to go for. This is also the consideration for CHOI Kin. He needs to go for election if he chooses to
continue to contribute to the Council. He
may want to make another record of serving as President for 4 terms. Or he may choose to fit in any other posts
with confidence. And of course he can be
appointed Honorary Secretary and bypass the election.
Election is never simple, but I
don’t have to face the complexity myself as I am quite satisfied with my
current positions. Election has never
been simple. Anyone would agree after
witnessing the 2012 Chief Executive Election, before and after.
(Source: HKMA News June 2013)
