Alice Mak (politician)

Alice Mak Mei-kuen BBS JP (Chinese: 麥美娟, born November 1, 1971) is a member of Legislative Council of Hong Kong for the Election Committee, for the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions. She graduated from Department of English of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She has been a member of the Kwai Tsing District Council since 1993, and represented the Wai Ying constituency until 2019.

For other people named Alice Mak, see Alice Mak (disambiguation).
In this Hong Kong name, the surname is Mak. In accordance with Hong Kong custom, the Western-style name is Alice Mak and the Chinese-style name is Mak Mei-kuen.
The Honourable
Alice Mak Mei-kuen
BBS JP
Chinese: 麥美娟
Alice Mak
Member of the Legislative Council
Assumed office
1 January 2022
Preceded byNew constituency
ConstituencyElection Committee
In office
1 October 2012 – 31 December 2021
Preceded byWong Kwok-hing
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
ConstituencyNew Territories West
Member of the Kwai Tsing District Council
In office
1 October 1994 – 31 December 2019
Preceded byNew constituency
Succeeded bySin Ho Fai
ConstituencyWai Ying
Personal details
Born (1971-11-01) November 1, 1971
Hong Kong
Political partyHong Kong Federation of Trade Unions
Residence(s)Tsing Yi, New Territories
Alma materCNEC Christian College
Chinese University of Hong Kong
OccupationLegislative Councillor
Signature

Political career

Mak was handpicked by Wong Kwok-hing to run in the 2012 Hong Kong legislative election.[1][2][3] She came in 8th place after Civic Party's Kwok Ka-ki received the most votes, and was elected to the Legislative Council of Hong Kong with 7.07% electorate support.[4] Mak also participated in the 2016 legislative election, coming in 6th place after popular localist Eddie Chu topped the race with the most votes. She kept her seat on the Legislative Council after receiving 49,680 votes, which represented 8.32% of the electorate.[5]

She lost her seat in the District Council during the 2019 elections following a general rout of pro-Beijing candidates amidst the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests.[6] She was defeated by Civic Party's Henry Sin Ho-fai, losing to him with 40.12% of the votes.[7] Mak admitted that she, along with other pro-establishment candidates, lost because the Hong Kong government "provoked many people with its way of administering".[8]

Controversies and views

Insulting Carrie Lam with profanities

During the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, Chief Executive Carrie Lam called for a meeting on 18 June with pro-Beijing lawmakers in Government House to explain her reasoning for suspending the controversial 2019 Hong Kong extradition bill. It was reported that Mak, who had publicly supported the bill in solidarity with the government up to this point, berated the chief executive for around five minutes using Cantonese profanities until Lam appeared to be in tears, to which Mak retorted in tears, "what use is crying now? You know how to cry, I do too!".[9] The account was confirmed by a leaked conversation between pro-Beijing lawmaker Christopher Cheung and Independent Police Complaints Council chairman Anthony Neoh, who did not realise their microphones were still on during their breaks.[10]

In 19 June, Mak was asked about the truthfulness of the account, but Mak refused to reveal the details of the meeting, stressing that the pro-Beijing camp does not support the government blindly.[11] Hong Kong's two civil service unions, the Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants’ Association and the Federation of Civil Service Unions, urged Mak to address the accusation and apologise to Carrie Lam if the reports were true.[10]

National security law

In October 2020, Mak pushed for an inquiry into whether filibustering at LegCo should be considered illegal, against the newly-enacted National Security Law.[12]

Flag raising

In February 2021, Mak insisted that universities in Hong Kong should be mandated to hold a weekly flag-raising ceremony of the PRC flag.[13]

Patriots

In March 2021, Mak supported changes proposed by the NPCSC to allow only "patriots" to govern Hong Kong, and claimed that the public was being misled by foreign forces, claiming that "I think the [Hong Kong] government should explain the articles in the Constitution [that electoral reform is under the NPC's purview], otherwise the public will be misled by these wrongful arguments put forward by foreign forces."[14]

In April 2021, Mak claimed of the changes that "This is for the benefit of the whole society, so I hope the people of Hong Kong will vote in the coming election and I do hope that we'll have a high voting rate" and that the government should spread more propaganda on the changes.[15]

Passports

In April 2021, Mak said that candidates to the Legislative Council should disclose if they have foreign passports, including BN(O) passports.[16]

Police state

In June 2021, Mak said that there would be nothing wrong if Hong Kong were a police state; later, she claimed she was being sarcastic.[17]

Personal life

On 23 February 2022, Mak was the second lawmaker after Edmund Wong to have tested positive for COVID-19.[18]

References
  1. "2008–2011 Kwai Tsing District Council Members". Kwai Tsing District Council. 2011. Archived from the original on 2012-12-18. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  2. "Mak, Alice Mei Kuen". Webb-site.com. 2012. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  3. Ip, Kelly (7 September 2012). "FTU old guard lead young to battle". The Standard. Archived from the original on 2014-02-21. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  4. "LegCo Election overall results". www.info.gov.hk. Retrieved 2020-07-19.
  5. "2.2 million people cast their votes for 2016 Legislative Council election". Lifewire. 2016-09-05. Retrieved 2020-07-19.
  6. "2019 District Councils Election – Election Results (Kwai Tsing)". Government of Hong Kong.
  7. "2019 District Councils Election - Election Results (Kwai Tsing)". www.elections.gov.hk. Retrieved 2020-07-19.
  8. Pao, Jeff (2019-11-25). "Lam blamed, by losers as well as winners". Asia Times. Retrieved 2020-07-19.
  9. "麥美娟向林鄭爆粗「X街」 建制派怨氣大爆發". 星島日報. 2019-06-18. Retrieved 2019-06-19.
  10. "Did lawmaker shout profanity at Carrie Lam? Unions demand answer". South China Morning Post. 2019-06-22. Retrieved 2019-11-25.
  11. "傳麥美娟閉門會議上「怒x林鄭」　麥美娟拒透露會面內容：建制派無盲撐政府". 香港經濟日報. 2019-06-19. Retrieved 2019-06-19.
  12. Wong, Rachel (2020-10-29). "Hong Kong legislature head mulls limiting debates to curb filibustering as democrats cry foul". Hong Kong Free Press HKFP. Retrieved 2020-10-29.
  13. "Lawmakers insist Hong Kong universities also be held to new rules on flag-raising". South China Morning Post. 2021-02-18. Retrieved 2021-02-18.
  14. "First meeting of Hong Kong election overhaul committee told it cannot change Beijing's blueprint". Hong Kong Free Press HKFP. 2021-03-26. Retrieved 2021-03-26.
  15. "Lawmaker urges more propaganda to boost poll turnout - RTHK". news.rthk.hk. Retrieved 2021-04-14.
  16. "Legislature hopefuls should reveal foreign passports: pro-Beijing lawmaker ｜ Apple Daily". Apple Daily 蘋果日報 (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Archived from the original on 2021-04-22. Retrieved 2021-04-22.
  17. "Overstatement to say HK is a police state: official - RTHK". news.rthk.hk. Retrieved 2021-07-01.
  18. "Lawmaker Alice Mak tests positive for Covid-19 - RTHK". news.rthk.hk. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
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