Leung Kwok-hung (; born 27 March 1956), also known by his nickname "Long Hair" (), is a Hong Kong politician and social activist. He was a member of the Legislative Council, representing the New Territories East. A Trotskyist in his youth, he was a founding member of the Revolutionary Marxist League. He became a political icon with his long hair and Che Guevara T-shirt in the protests before he was elected to the Legislative Council in 2004. In 2006, he co-founded a social democratic party, the League of Social Democrats (LSD) of which he was the chairman from 2012 to 2016.
In 2017, he announced his candidacy for the 2017 Chief Executive election, through unofficial public petition, but withdrew after failing to receive enough signatures. On 14 July 2017, Leung was disqualified by the court over his manner on oath of office at the inaugural meeting of the Legislative Council on 12 October 2016 as a result of the oath-taking controversy.
Early life and social activism Leung was born on 27 March 1956 in Hong Kong to a family from Guangdong Province. Born in Shau Kei Wan, he later moved into Chai Wan Estate. He was raised in a single family after his father left home when Leung was six-years-old, while his mother was an amah in a British family to support the family and Leung had to live with relatives back in Shau Kei Wan who had seven children.
Leung was educated at the Clementi Secondary School. Leung credits his political awakening to the Cultural Revolution and the 1967 Hong Kong riots, participating in the "Maoist student movement". He and his mother were members of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (HKFTU), the left-wing pro-communist labour union at the time. After the falls of Lin Biao and the Gang of Four which crushed the Maoist idealism, Leung reflected his political belief, and delved himself into Trotskyism under the influence of the social activist icons at that time such as Ng Chung-yin.
In 1975, he co-founded the Revolutionary Marxist League, a Trotskyist vanguard party, in which he became active in political actions. He was arrested multiple times, including in the protests of supporting the 1976 April Fifth Tiananmen Incident and Chinese democracy movement. His first prosecution was in 1979 when he protested for the Yau Ma Tei boat people. Later in the same year he was charged and jailed for a month for "unlawful assembly" for a protest at the Victoria Park.
After his release, he worked as a construction worker from 1981 to 1986. In 1986, Leung worked for Kowloon Motor Bus as an overnight vehicle cleaner. Around 1988, he formed the April Fifth Action after the Revolutionary Marxist League was disbanded. The group is well known for its aggressive and civil disobedience-style actions to protest against the governments of China and Hong Kong during celebrations and visits of state leaders, often resulting in confrontations with the Hong Kong police. They usually carry a coffin as their trademark protest prop. Leung supported the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and was a member of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China.
He has been briefly jailed several times for offences such as shouting from Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo) public viewing gallery, burning the national flag of the People's Republic of China and forcibly breaking into an opposition political event. In 2000, he and Koo Sze-yiu were prosecuted for disrupting a LegCo meeting and were later jailed for 14 days, becoming the first dissents to be jailed after the handover of Hong Kong in 1997. Before that he had been charged 14 times, of which 11 ended in convictions.
Legislative Council bids and founding of LSD Leung first contested in the Legislative Council election in 2000, where he ran in the New Territories East. He received 18,235 votes, about six percent of the total vote share and was not elected. On 1 July 2003, protests against the National Security (Legislative Provisions) Bill 2003 that had been proposed by the unpopular Tung Chee-hwa administration attracted more than 500,000 people marching in the streets. The further antagonism towards the government helped further boost the popularity of pro-democracy activists including Leung Kwok-hung. In the 2003 District Council election, Leung challenged the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) legislator Choy So-yuk's seat in the Kam Ping constituency which was seen as pro-Beijing traditional stronghold. He called out the DAB as the "loyalist party" and received 1,149, only 284 short to defeat Choy.
Leung ran again in the Legislative Council election in 2004 in New Territories East and succeeded in winning a seat in LegCo with 60,925 votes at the expense of the moderate Andrew Wong, former Legislative Council President, He received over 200% increase in votes compared to the 18,235 votes in 2000. His campaigns include universal suffrage, workers' rights and welfare for the less well off. His political agenda include introduction of a liveable minimum wage, comprehensive social security, collective bargaining and taxing speculative business. Although he expresses his fondness for Che Guevara and the ideals of revolutionary Marxism, Leung has not included a proletarian revolution agenda on his election platform and many of his ideas and proposals would be readily accepted by most mainstream social liberal and social democratic parties in other countries.
For the swearing-in ceremony of the Hong Kong Legislative Council on 6 October 2004, Leung's fellow members arrived in business attire. He, in contrast, wore a T-shirt with Tiananmen Square on the front and Che Guevara on the back. When he was called to come forward and take the oath, he raised his left fist, encircled with a black wristband, a memorial to those who died in the 1989 protests. He had planned to alter his oath of office, but a Hong Kong judge said such a step would make it impossible for him to serve. Instead, Leung added his own messages to the standard oath, demanding vindication for those killed in the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, calling for the release of political prisoners and an end to one-party rule on the Mainland. He shouted at the ceremony: "Long live democracy! Long live the people!" He was then sworn in as a council member. Observers watched closely the reaction from the PRC government, as Leung's statements touched upon a politically sensitive issue that is considered taboo in official public settings. Leung's populist and unorthodox confrontational style contrasts with the usually restrained atmosphere of LegCo. Rita Fan, the then LegCo President, seemed more concerned by Leung's attire for LegCo meetings than any of his political opinions. One legislator commented that "LegCo has to get used to Leung, and he has to get used to LegCo.""Long Hair and the Legislature in Hong Kong" , Eleanor Randolph, The New York Times, 13 October 2004
In 2005, Leung took part in the protests against the WTO Conference in Hong Kong and was injured during the demonstration. Leung was arrested along with 900 other demonstrators. As with almost all other persons rounded up on that day, Leung was released shortly after and was not prosecuted.
In 2006, Leung co-founded the social democratic party League of Social Democrats (LSD) with legislator Albert Chan and radical pro-democrat radio host Wong Yuk-man. In the 2008 Legislative Council election, Leung was re-elected in the New Territories East while Chan and Wong were also elected in New Territories West and Kowloon West respectively which made the LSD in the third largest pro-democracy party after Democratic Party and Civic Party, which took a more moderate and pro-middle class position as compared to the LSD.
Denied entry to Sichuan in 2008 Leung has not had a Home Return Permit since 1989, after the Tiananmen Massacre, having been denied one by the Chinese authorities, but he was able to visit mainland China once in the company of his mother in about 2003. He was also able to visit mainland China in 2005, on an invitation to Hong Kong legislators, including pan-democrats, to visit Guangdong. Some of the other pan-democrat legislators also had not had an individual permit since 1989.
On 4 July 2008 Leung was scheduled to visit areas in Sichuan damaged by the Sichuan earthquake as part of a 20-member delegation. Leung's travel permit application was rejected at the last minute on suspicions he would protest in China during the three-day trip.Reuters, '"China bars radical HK democrat from Sichuan visit" . Retrieved on 4 July 2008. Sichuan officials claimed to have seen Internet reports saying Leung planned to do something not relevant to the purpose of the trip. Rita Fan confirmed those were the grounds of denial.WTopnews. ""Hong Kong lawmaker barred from Sichuan quake zone" ." Wtopnews. Retrieved on 4 July 2008. Leung responded saying: "It's so ironic. People said the Olympic Games will make China more open up. I think it's going backward."
Five Constituencies Referendum In 2010, Leung and four other pro-democrat legislators launched the "Five Constituencies Referendum" to press the government to implement universal suffrage of the Chief Executive and Legislative Council by resigning from each constituency and trigger a territory-wide by-election. Leung explained that his resignation in January was, "in keeping with [his] campaign promise... to fight for direct elections." Although being elected in May with 108,927 votes, the campaign failed to draw high turnout rate due to the boycott by the pro-Beijing camp, . Leung accused the Democratic Party for not participating in the campaign and instead reached a controversial agreement with the Beijing government over the reform proposal.
In the 2011 District Council elections, LSD chairman Andrew To's refusal of fielding candidates against the Democrats led former chairman Wong Yuk-man and legislator Albert Chan to quit the party with hundreds party members over the disagreement as well as the intra-party factional struggles. Leung, being the only legislator left in the party refused to follow Wong and Chan. Leung subsequently took over as party chairman after To resigned when he lost his seat in the District Council elections. Leung himself also ran in the election against DAB legislator Ip Kwok-him in his stronghold Kwun Lung but lost with a wide margin of 1,800 votes.
After the 2010 by-election, the government considered the resignations were abusive to the system and planned to plug the loophole. A Legislative Council (Amendment) Bill 2012 was proposed to disqualify a resigned member of the Legislative Council from participating in a subsequent by-election. Leung participated in the filibustering against the bill with Albert Chan and Wong Yuk-man, submitting 1,306 amendments altogether, which began the radical democrats' filibustering practice against the government bills in the following years. On morning of 17 May 2012, LegCo President Jasper Tsang, adopted Article 92 of the Standing Order, which allows the president follow foreign parliament rules for unregulated behaviours to terminate the debate. In the end, all amendments were defeated and the Bill was passed on 1 June 2012.
Third term as Legislative Councillor In the 2012 Legislative Council election, with 48,295 votes, among the highest votes in the constituency. In 2013, he and other radical pan-democrats started filibustering by moving a total of 710 amendments on the Budget Appropriation Bill debate, to press for a universal pension scheme and a HK$10,000 cash handout. The government warned that the service would shut down if the budget bill do not pass. LegCo President Jasper Tsang ordered to end the filibuster on 13 May after 55 hours spent to debate 17 of the 148 amendments. The Appropriation Bill was passed on 21 May 2013 with 684 amendments negatived.