| The Frontier 前綫 |
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|---|---|
| Convenor | Yan Sun Kong |
| Founded | 28 August 1996 |
| Merged into | Democratic Party in 23 November 2008 |
| Ideology | Centre-left, Social Democracy, Social Liberalism |
| National affiliation | Pro-democracy camp |
| Official colours | Yellow |
The Frontier was a relatively radical pro-democracy political group in the Hong Kong. It was established on 26 August 1996. The group was headed by former convenor Emily Lau Wai-hing since its establishment as a loose group of individual pro-democracy activists.
On 23 November 2008, the Frontier declared that it would merge with the Hong Kong Democratic Party, another party in the pro-democracy camp, but the motion to have it disbanded was not passed, because the 80% hurdle required for disband was not met.[1] The party was established again on 9 September 2010 by the former members who opposed to join the Democratic Party. Yang Sun Kong is the incumbent convenor since the reestablishment. The new party is closely aligned with People Power.
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The main platform of The Frontier calls for universal suffrage by 2007/8, more human rights and rule of law, and demands the right to draft Hong Kong's own constitution.
Among the pro-democracy political parties, The Frontier has adopted a relatively radical anti-Beijing and anti-government stance on political issues. It called for immediate universal suffrage since the establishment of the HKSAR, by means of redrafting the Basic Law, the mini-constitution of Hong Kong (the Basic Law guaranteed universal suffrage but imposed constraints on the timetable). It also launched campaigns to demand then Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Tung Chee-hwa, to step down. There were allegations that the party's co-founder, Emily Lau Wai-hing, supported Taiwan independence, but was forced to back down from making her stance the official party one. However, she explained that she only respected the will of Taiwanese people.
On the economics front, the group has been pressing for an introduction of antitrust laws in Hong Kong; on livelihood issues, the group adopted a left-wing, socialist stance. They demand better labour protection, such as legislating for minimum wages and maximum working hours, and advocated unemployment protection. They also demand better social welfare and a reduction of rents in public housing estates.
Founders of the group include:
In both the 1998 and 2000 Legislative Council (LegCo) elections, members of The Frontier won five seats in the geographical constituencies (some of them run under the banner of other groups):
In April 2002, a number of more radical former members ("Young Turks") of the Democratic Party (DP), who had earlier formed a group called the Social Democratic Forum (SDF), left the DP to join the Frontier.
Cyd Ho lost in the 2004 LegCo elections. This was believed to be caused by a tactical mistake by the democratic camp. As a result, they won only one seat in the Legislative Council in 2004, occupied by Emily Lau.
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