| Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong 民主建港協進聯盟 |
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|---|---|
| Chairman | Tam Yiu Chung |
| Founded | 10 July 1992 |
| Headquarters | 12/F, SUP Tower 83 King's Road North Point, Hong Kong |
| Ideology | Chinese Patriotism, Fiscal conservatism |
| National affiliation | Pro-Beijing Camp |
| Official colours | Blue, Red |
| Legislative Council |
13 / 60
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| District Councils |
147 / 507
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| National People's Congress |
9 / 2,987
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| Political Consultative Conference |
32 / 2,280
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| Website | |
| http://www.dab.org.hk/ | |
| Politics of Hong Kong Political parties Elections |
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| Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong | |||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 民主建港協進聯盟 (Short: 民建聯) |
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| Simplified Chinese | 民主建港协进联盟 (Short: 民建联) |
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| Former name | |||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 民主建港聯盟 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 民主建港联盟 | ||||||||||
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Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), formerly known as Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong, is the largest pro-Beijing political party in Hong Kong.[1] The party was founded on 10 July 1992 and is currently headed by Tam Yiu Chung.
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The DAB and the Hong Kong Progressive Alliance (HKPA) allied with each other in the crucial Provisional Legislative Council debate on the substantial arrangements for the 1998 elections. This move was tacitly endorsed by the Heung Yee Kuk, and heralded as the unofficial merger of the parties. Critics labelled the union as the "Democratic Progressive Party of Hong Kong".[2]
A formal merger with the HKPA was announced on 16 February 2005. The two parties were merged with new leadership selected on 31 May 2005. The group was formed with the assistance of the Xinhua News Agency.[3] and at the time was the public face of the Communist Party of China in Hong Kong.[3][4] It reportedly received financial support from leftist trade unions and support from Mainland Chinese sources under British colonial rule.[3]
The party is known for stressing the "one country" part of the "One country, two systems" principle. As for issues on democratic reform, it take a position to support slower pace in relative to what the Democratic Party of Hong Kong supports, DAB claims by doing so stability and prosperity will be achieved.
The party's main claim is that it is natural for ethnic Chinese in Hong Kong to be "patriotic" and pro-PRC.[5]
The late DAB chairman Ma Lik (in July 2005) listed the party's four objectives:
The party started with a single seat on the Legislative Council (LegCo). The 1995 LegCo elections increased the DAB's share to six seats. After 1997 when Hong Kong was transferred to the People's Republic of China (PRC), DAB enjoyed political favour from the PRC, and gained a number of seats in Legco through Functional Constituency election which was deemed unfair, and they remain unfavour in local district direct election. In 2000 it had ten councillors in Legco. The most recent Legislative Council election in 2004, it become the largest (by number) political party to be represented with 12 seats, with the Liberal Party coming second (10 seats), with the Democratic Party coming third (9 seats).
Twelve district councilors joined the party on its formation, a share that increased to 37 seats in the 1994 elections and 83 in 1999. In the wake of the controversies over the legislation of Article 23 of the Basic Law in 2003, the party's popularity dropped drastically and the November 2003 District Councils elections saw its seats drop to 62. The election results have led to the resignation of its former Chairman, Jasper Tsang Yok-sing.[6] However, as Ma Lik had been undergoing treatment for colon cancer from 2004 until his death in 2007, Tsang still effectively controls the DAB.
The DAB and its sister organisation HKFTU are well-known for their ability to mobilize their supporters, including employees of PRC state-owned companies, to vote for their candidates in elections. In the 2004 Legislative Council election, they managed to exploit the proportional representation electoral system to equalise votes for two of the candidates the party endorsed standing in the same constituency. Although support of Chan Yuen Han (DAB) was far higher than Chan Kam Lam (HKFTU), according to earlier polls, the two organisations managed to have both elected. At another constituency, the ticket of Ma Lik and Choy So Yuk ultimately benefitted from a democratic camp mix-up that led to the resignation of the Democratic Party's leader, Yeung Sum.
| Election | Number of votes for DAB | Share of votes | Geographical constituency seats | Functional constituency seats | Elections committee seats | Total seats |
| 1995 | 141,801 | 15.40% | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| 1998 | 373,428 | 25.23% | 5 | 3 | 2 | 10 |
| 2000 | 347,354 | 26.32% | 7 | 3 | 1 | 11 |
| 2004 | 402,420 | 22.55% | 8 | 2 | − | 10 |
| 2008 | 347,373 | 22.79% | 7 | 3 | − | 10 |
Notable DAB member Tsang Tak-sing participated in the Hong Kong 1967 Leftist Riots. He was arrested and jailed for two years for distributing "inflammatory leaflets"[7]
On 15 May 2007, party leader Ma Lik provoked widespread condemnation within the local community when he claimed that "there was not a massacre" during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, as there was "no intentional and indiscriminate shooting". He said the popular belief of foreigners' "rash claims" that a massacre took place showed Hong Kong's lack of maturity. He said that Hong Kong showed, through this lack of patriotism and national identity, that it would thus "not be ready for democracy until 2022".[8]
Vice Chairman Tam Yiu Chung defended Ma, but questioned the timing: "people will understand it gradually".[8] However, Vice Chairman Lau Kong Wah, immediately offered to apologise, and distanced the party from Ma, saying that Ma had expressed "a personal opinion".[9] The DAB Central committee declined any further action against Ma following their meeting, and there was no official apology.
The DAB has been accused by pro-democracy media and politicians of providing benefits to certain people, including seafood meals and local trips to outlying islands at prices significantly lower than market rates in order to win their support. Other allegations include free transport to mobilise people for their cause. However, none of these practices are strictly illegal.
As the largest political party of Hong Kong, the 10-year-party can be divided into three main factions:
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