While increased attendance in Legco is a welcome development, it shouldn’t be too much to expect first-year legislators to hit the ground running
3-MIN READ3-MIN ListenAlice WuAlice Wu is a political consultant and a former associate director of the Asia Pacific Media Network at UCLA. Published: 9:30am, 27 Jul 2026Eighty per cent of success is showing up, as they say. So, all but one of Hong Kong’s 89 legislators joining a week-long “national affairs study visit” to Beijing made a good impression.Lawmaker Stanley Ng Chau-pei called it a “groundbreaking opportunity” for legislators to study and deepen their understanding of national conditions. Showing up eager to learn and to better grasp how Hong Kong can play a more proactive role in national development is indeed commendable.
Lifelong learning is crucial. We don’t expect our lawmakers to be know-it-alls, but we do expect them to keep themselves abreast of the latest developments and constant shifts in this fast-paced world.
It is also excellent to see that the current slate of legislators has made genuine efforts to show up in the chamber. Only three lawmakers had an overall attendance rate below 90 per cent. It’s hard to imagine, but it hasn’t always been this way.
