Starry Lee

Starry Lee Wai-king, SBS, JP (Chinese: 李慧琼, born 13 March 1974 in British Hong Kong) is a Hong Kong politician and former chairperson of the largest pro-establishment Beijing-loyalist party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB). She is a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC), Legislative Councillor for the Kowloon Central geographical constituency, and a Kowloon City District Councillor. From 2012 to 2016, she was a member of the Executive Council.

In this Hong Kong name, the surname is Lee. In accordance with Hong Kong custom, the Western-style name is Starry Lee and the Chinese-style name is Lee Wai-king.
The Honourable
Starry Lee
SBS, JP
李慧琼
Lee in October 2023
Member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress
Assumed office
11 March 2023
Preceded byTam Yiu-chung
Chairwoman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong
In office
17 April 2015 – 25 September 2023
Preceded byTam Yiu-chung
Succeeded byGary Chan
Member of the Executive Council
In office
1 July 2012 – 17 March 2016
Appointed byLeung Chun-ying
Preceded byLau Kong-wah
Succeeded byIp Kwok-him
Member of the Legislative Council
Assumed office
1 January 2022
Preceded byNew constituency
ConstituencyKowloon Central
In office
1 October 2012 – 31 December 2021
Preceded byNew constituency
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
ConstituencyDistrict Council (Second)
In office
1 October 2008 – 30 September 2012
Preceded byTsang Yok-sing
Succeeded byAnn Chiang
ConstituencyKowloon West
Member of the Kowloon City District Council
Assumed office
1 January 2000
Preceded byNew constituency
ConstituencyTo Kwa Wan North
Personal details
Born (1974-03-13) 13 March 1974
British Hong Kong
Political partyDemocratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong
Children1
Alma materHong Kong University of Science and Technology
University of Manchester
OccupationCouncillor
ProfessionAccountant
Signature
Starry Lee
Chinese李慧琼

Biography

Born in 1974 in Hong Kong into a working-class family and brought up on a public housing estate,[1] Lee obtained her Bachelor of Business Administration from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Master of Business Administration from the University of Manchester. She became a professional accountant, working for KPMG in Hong Kong and is currently the principal at CCIF CPA Ltd.

Lee first stood in the District Council elections in 1999 for the Kowloon City District Council, the neighbourhood where she lived. She was elected aged 26, the youngest district councillor at that time.[2] She joined the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong when she was approached by the former party chairman Tsang Yok-sing around 2004. She was asked to become the part of Tsang's team in the following Legislative Council election in September 2004.[3] She was listed third on the candidate list and helped Tsang to win a seat in the Kowloon West.

With her professional background, Lee became a new star in the party and also the pro-Beijing camp. She was elected to the Legislative Council with around 39,000 votes, nearly 19 percent of the vote share, when Tsang left the constituency for Hong Kong Island in the 2008 Legislative Council election. In 2011, she was elected as the vice-chairwoman of the party.

In 2012, she was appointed to the Executive Council by Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying. At the time, she was the only person to hold positions in three different levels of representative councils, the Executive, Legislative and District Councils. She served on the Executive Council until her resignation in March 2016, when she said she wanted to focus on her work on the Legislative Council and the party. Her position was taken by Ip Kwok-him, a veteran DAB legislator.[4]

In the 2012 Legislative Council election, Lee contested in the newly created territory-wide District Council (Second) "super seats". Her ticket received over 270,000 votes in total. On 17 April 2015, she was elected as the first woman to chair the DAB, succeeding Tam Yiu-chung.[5]

After Lee was re-elected in the 2016 Legislative Council election, she succeeded Andrew Leung of the Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong (BPA) to become the chairperson of the Legislative Council House Committee, the second highest office in the legislature. In 2018, she was invited to sit on the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).[6]

On 18 May 2020, Lee was re-elected as House Committee chairperson. Prior to the vote, Chan Kin-por, the nominee of Legislative Council president Andrew Leung, had taken the seat of the presiding member – a position which had been held since October 2019 by pro-democrat Dennis Kwok – with the help of security personnel, and 15 pro-democratic lawmakers had been removed from the meeting room after scuffles had broken out; during Lee's election, three pro-democrats sat outside the room in protest. After the physical removal of the pro-democratic lawmakers, Lee was elected.[7][8]

In March 2021, Lee supported changes that would reduce the power of Legislative Council members, claiming that opposition members had blocked legislation and caused a power vacuum.[9]

In October 2021, Lee and fellow lawmaker Holden Chow were criticized by the mother of Amber Poon, claiming that Lee and Chow were "vanishing" after holding a press conference in 2019 with her, to push forward the 2019 Hong Kong extradition bill.[10]

During the 2021 Hong Kong legislative election, Lee dismissed concerns that the record-low voter turnout of 30.2% was problematic.[11]

In January 2022, the mainland Chinese national emblem was permanently added to the Legislative Council chamber, after Andrew Leung, Starry Lee Wai-king and Ma Fung-kwok decided that it should be made permanent.[12] Andrew Leung had earlier said it would be only temporary for the swearing in of lawmakers.[12]

In February 2022, Lee told SCMP that she would not be attending the 2022 Two Sessions, as a Hong Kong delegate.[13]

In August 2022, Lee announced that 16 members of the DAB would travel overseas to clarify any "misunderstandings" businesspeople may have about Hong Kong.[14]

In November 2022, after a rugby match in South Korea played Glory to Hong Kong for the Hong Kong team, Lee said that Asia Rugby should apologize to "the entire [Chinese] population."[15]

On 11 March 2023, Lee was elected to the National People's Congress and succeeded Tam Yiu-chung to become the Hong Kong representative in the NPCSC.[16]

In August 2023, she announced that she will not seeking her re-election as DAB chairwoman, citing her "limited time and work capability".[17] On 25 September 2023, Gary Chan succeeded Lee in the party leader election.[18]

Personal life

Lee is married and has a daughter. In November 2022, she was tested positive for COVID-19.[19]

See also

References
  1. Chan, Bernard (30 April 2015). "Breaking the mould in Hong Kong politics". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 2 June 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  2. "Jasper Tsang – Laws of attraction". Archived from the original on 16 September 2008. Retrieved 22 August 2008.
  3. Chan, Quinton (21 August 2006). "Life in the patriotic camp". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  4. Wong, Hermina (17 March 2016). "Breaking: CY Leung appoints Ip Kwok-him to Executive Council following Starry Lee's resignation". Hong Kong Free Press.
  5. "民建聯領導層改選李慧琼當選主席". RTHK. 17 April 2015. Archived from the original on 17 April 2015.
  6. "第十三屆全國政協香港委員名單 - 香港文匯報". paper.wenweipo.com (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Archived from the original on 31 January 2018. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  7. Wong, Natalie; Lam, Jeffie (18 May 2020). "Chaos at Hong Kong's Legislative Council as opposition lawmakers thrown out as pro-establishment bloc installs chairwoman on key committee". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 18 May 2020. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  8. Creery, Jennifer; Wong, Rachel (18 May 2020). "Anthem law: Hong Kong pro-Beijing lawmaker elected committee chair as democrats carried out by security". Hong Kong Free Press. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  9. "Hong Kong lawmakers face temporary ban under new LegCo house rules ｜ Apple Daily". Apple Daily 蘋果日報 (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Archived from the original on 25 March 2021. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  10. "Hong Kong lawmakers and gov't officials shun meeting with mother of murder victim, security chief points to Taiwan". Hong Kong Free Press. 20 October 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  11. "'Political apathy drove voters away' - RTHK". news.rthk.hk. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  12. Lam, Moon. "Legco chamber gets 'solemn' makeover". The Standard. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  13. "Beijing loyalists in Hong Kong weigh options on attending key political meetings". South China Morning Post. 19 February 2022. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  14. "DAB to visit ASEAN countries to promote Hong Kong - RTHK". news.rthk.hk. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  15. Ho, Kelly (14 November 2022). "National security police should investigate anthem error at rugby match, Hong Kong lawmakers say". Hong Kong Free Press. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  16. "Starry Lee becomes sole Hong Kong member of nation's top legislative body". South China Morning Post. 11 March 2023. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  17. "Hong Kong politician Starry Lee to quit as DAB leader after 8 years in role". South China Morning Post. 9 August 2023. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
  18. "Hong Kong's DAB elects new head who vows 'good governance' focus over vote chase". South China Morning Post. 25 September 2023. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
  19. 蕭通 (30 November 2022). "民建聯主席李慧琼今快測陽性 昨曾到選舉工作辦報名參選港區人大". 香港01 (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Retrieved 16 December 2022.
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