Gary Fan

The Honourable
Gary Fan Kwok-wai
范國威
Member of the Legislative Council
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 October 2012
Preceded by New seat
Constituency New Territories East
Personal details
Born 30 October 1966
Hong Kong
Political party Democratic Party (1996–2010)
The Frontier (1996–97)
Neo Democrats (2010–)
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,

faan6 gwok3 wai1

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

Party politics

Gary Fan is a graduate of San Francisco State University. He 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 belongs to the Reformist faction in the party. 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 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. 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 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 immigrants from mainland China and the quota of 150 daily permits as "the root of the housing problem".[4]

In September 2013, Gary Fan co-sponsored a controversial ad which claims that cutting people from the source of 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]

District councillor

He has been elected as District Councillor in the Sai Kung District Council for Wan Hang since 1999. 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.

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. ↑ Bio on web page of Sai Kung District Council

External links

Legislative Council of Hong Kong
New seat Member of Legislative Council
Representative for New Territories East
2012–present
Served alongside: Emily Lau, Fernando Cheung, Elizabeth Quat,
Leung Kwok-hung, Ronny Tong, Raymond Chan Chi-chuen,
James Tien, Gary Chan		 Incumbent