Gary Fan

Gary Fan Kwok-wai
范國威

Gary Fan in 2015
Member of the Legislative Council
In office
1 October 2012 – 30 September 2016
Preceded by Seat Created
Succeeded by Eunice Yung
Constituency New Territories East
Personal details
Born (1966-10-30) 30 October 1966
Hong Kong
Political party Neo Democrats (since 2010)
Other political
affiliations		 Democratic Party (1996–2010)
The Frontier (1996–97)
Social Democratic Forum (2000–02)
Alma mater Academy of Art University
San Francisco State University
Occupation Legislative Councillor
District Councillor
Website garyfan.org
Gary Fan
Traditional Chinese 范國威
Simplified Chinese 范国威

Gary Fan Kwok-wai (born 30 October 1966) is a former member of Hong Kong Legislative Council and current member of the Sai Kung District Council in Hong Kong.

Party politics

Of Hakka ancestry, Gary Fan is a graduate of San Francisco State University.

Fan joined the Democratic Party after returning to Hong Kong. Fan was a leading member of the Democratic Party, including membership of the standing committee of its central committee.[1][2] He and vice-chairman Chan King-ming, who both belonged to the Reformist faction, were suspected of involving in spying activities of China in an investigation by the Mainstream faction.

Fan opposed to the Democratic party's stance on the Five Constituencies Referendum movement and support of the constitutional reform package in 2010. He and Chan King-ming as well as other Reformists quit the Democratic Party in December 2010. Before that they had already formed the Neo Democrats political grouping on 2 October 2010. He held the position of one of its four convenors from 2010 to 2012.

In the 2012 LegCo elections, Fan won a new seat in the New Territoires East geographical constituency created under the 2010 constitutional reform package.

Legislative councillor

Gary Fan has taken an anti-immigration stance in the Legislative Council, which was different from other pan-democrats who are considered friendly with the new arrivals. Fan has been frequently calling for the government to take back the approval rights on One-way Permits from Chinese authorities and to reduce the quota of such permits.[3] Fan also refers to immigrants from mainland China and the quota of 150 daily permits as "the root of the housing problem".[4]

In January 2013, Gary Fan and Claudia Mo formed a group called "HK First". They co-sponsored a controversial ad which claimed that reducing immigration would help the people of Hong Kong to get to the bottom of the housing problem, while rejecting claims of bias or discrimination against mainlanders,[5] despite condemnation from the Equal Opportunities Commission.[6] Fan later introduced a motion on adhering to the need to "put Hong Kong people first" in formulating policies, but the motion was ultimately defeated.[7]

He lost his seat in New Territories East in the 2016 Legislative Council election, due to the unexpectedly that Andrew Cheng returned which had claimed to split his votes. As a result, he resigned his party position as an executive committee member.

District councillor

He was first elected as District Councillor in the Sai Kung District Council for Wan Hang in 1999. He was re-elected by a comfortable majority on 22 November 2015. [8] As a District Council member he serves on various committees:

As well as being a district councillor, Fan is also a part-time tutor at the Open University of Hong Kong.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Democrats lick wounds as 30 reform radicals quit, The Standard, Colleen Lee, 20 December 2010
  2. ↑ Neo Democrats set out their store, RTHK, 23 January 2011, Accessed 23 January 2011
  3. ↑ "Lawmakers deny bias against mainlanders". The Standard. 15 October 2013.
  4. ↑ Lo, Alex (15 October 2013). "Lawmakers Gary Fan and Claudia Mo take disingenuous stand on housing". South China Morning Post.
  5. ↑ Chong, Tanna (14 October 2013). "Legislators defend controversial advert on mainland migrants". South China Morning Post.
  6. ↑ But, Joshua (12 October 2013). "Head of equality watchdog condemns lawmakers' ad on mainland migrants". South China Morning Post.
  7. ↑ "Legislaitve Council of Hong Kong" (PDF).
  8. ↑ "Election Results". www.elections.gov.hk. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  9. ↑ Bio on web page of Sai Kung District Council
Political offices
New constituency Member of Sai Kung District Council
Representative for Wan Hang
2000–present 		Incumbent
Legislative Council of Hong Kong
New seat Member of Legislative Council
Representative for New Territories East
2012–2016 		Succeeded by
Yung Hoi-yan


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