Lau Siu lai

Background

Lau holds a bachelor’s degree in social science, a master of philosophy in sociology, and a PhD in cultural sociology and historical sociology from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She worked as a tutor at the Chinese University for a decade before joining the faculty of the Hong Kong Community College. Lau taught a variety of sociology classes including Introduction to Sociology, Sociological Theories, Hong Kong Society, Medical Society, Social Problems, and Gender Issues.

She gained prominence establishing Democracy Groundwork to hold "Democracy Classrooms" during the 2014 pro-democratic protests, teaching protesters about social justice and democracy. In this role she earned the moniker "Teacher Siu-lai" (Chinese: 小麗老師).

Lau has challenged the Hong Kong government's suppression of hawking, and the crackdown on the traditional Kweilin Street Night Market, on the grounds that government policies toward street trading serves to bolster the hegemony of Hong Kong's dominant property conglomerates while unjustly persecuting the poor. Lau has hawked food herself, as an act of civil disobedience, in support of hawkers. She has organised street markets in Mei Foo, Sham Shui Po and Wong Tai Sin to demonstrate that hawking can be conducted in an orderly manner. She urges the government to once again issue hawker licences, and to allow street markets throughout the territory to provide more choice to consumers.

In past years, authorities have turned a blind eye to the Lunar New Year market on Kweilin Street, considered a staple of Hong Kong culture. On 7 February 2016, the eve of the Lunar New Year, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) officers took a hardline stance against the market, chasing away the vendors. Lau set up a stall in the street and sold squid in defiance, and was arrested. In response to the crackdown, localist group Hong Kong Indigenous called on supporters to come out on 8 February to help "protect" the hawkers and the night markets, which are considered a staple of Hong Kong culture. The FEHD and police again took action against the markets, resulting in a major civil disturbance.

In response to her arrest, Lau said the government's stance was unreasonable, as hawking provides jobs, lowers the cost of living, and gives residents choice in the face of neighbourhoods dominated by corporate powers. Lau appeared at Kowloon City Magistrates' Court on 20 June 2016. Two officers from the FEHD testified that they saw Lau heat up squid with a frying pan and sell a man a skewer for HK$10. She was convicted on three counts, namely: obstruction of a public space, hawking without a licence, and cooking food for the purpose of hawking without a licence. She was fined HK$1,800 and her hawking gear was seized under the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance. Lau stated that she would continue to hawk and would continue to support hawkers.

Lau's educational career is under jeopardy due to her hawking-related activism. In mid-2016 the Hong Kong Polytechnic University launched a disciplinary hearing against her for "moonlighting" as she reportedly earned HK$10 selling snacks. Lau said that the university's actions were politically motivated, stating that senior figures at the institute had told her that the president was under pressure from the university's governing council to take action against her. Lau donated the $10 to her Democracy Groundwork and defended herself, stating that there was no conflict of interest, that hawking does not constitute formal employment, and that the ban on moonlighting applied only to full-time faculty (while she was a part-time lecturer at the time).

Election and platform

Running under the banner of Democracy Groundwork, Lau was elected to the Legislative Council in the 2016 election, representing the geographical constituency of Kowloon West. During her election campaign, Lau stated that if elected her top priorities would be to "push back on 'white elephant' infrastructure projects, implement a universal pension scheme, legislate standard working hours, reform housing policy, and restart electoral reform."

Lau calls for the reform of Hong Kong's political system. She believes it is ineffective to fight against Leung Chun-ying on the grounds that, "You kick away Leung and Beijing will give you another one as bad as him, if not worse. We need to reform the system." She has rejected the idea of Hong Kong independence as "unrealistic", but says the issue should be open for discussion. She advocates a "very high" degree of autonomy for Hong Kong and the protection of local culture.

In addition to her above views on hawkers, Lau is critical of Link REIT, a private real estate company whose assets primarily comprise shopping centres, markets, and car parks in public housing estates. Link REIT exercises a de facto monopoly in many low-income areas, and has been subject to numerous protests due to rapid rent increases, eviction of local shops in favour of chain operators, and property management outsourcing. There have been calls for the government to buy back properties owned by the Link REIT, most of which were divested from the Housing Authority in 2005. Lau said that allowing more hawking and street markets would provide more choice and spur competition.

The election was held on 4 September 2016. With 38,183 votes, Lau garnered the most support among pro-democracy candidates in the Kowloon West constituency. She is regarded as a member of the localist camp, and has pledged to work together with other newly-elected localists Eddie Chu and Nathan Law.

Swearing-in and election petition by pro-Beijing camp

At the Legislative Council swearing-in on 12 October 2016 Lau first read an altered version of the oath of office in protest. She was asked to read it again, and she did so extremely slowly. Other pro-democratic and localist candidates similarly added extra phrases of protest to their oaths. LegCo president Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen rejected the oath and sent Lau a notice that read: "The conduct of Ms Lau's oath-taking, objectively assessed, has shown that she was not serious about the affirmation and had no intention to be bound by it." Leung asked Lau, Baggio Leung, Yau Wai-ching, and Edward Yiu, who had all protested during their swearing-in, to retake their oaths.

The government challenged Leung's decision with regard to Yau and Baggio Leung, in an unprecedented action whereby the government sought to disqualify two democratically elected legislators. Lau, despite protesting in a similar manner to Yau Wai-ching and Baggio Leung, did not appear to be targeted by the court order. Lau was finally sworn in on 2 November 2016 by Andrew Leung, despite the protests of Pro-Beijing camp. The judge presiding over Yau and Leung's case ruled in favour of the government on 15 November 2016, disqualifying the duo and barring them from the legislature.

Lau remains at risk of losing her seat. Jackson Kwan San-wai, who ran in the same constituency as Lau but lost, filed an election petition against Lau in November 2016 on the grounds that her conduct during the swearing-in did not uphold the Basic Law. Kwan is a member of Politihk Social Strategic, a group of pro-Beijing activists who opposed the 2014 pro-democratic protests. The case will be presided over by Justice Thomas Au Hing-cheung, the same judge who ruled against Yau and Leung.