Edward Yiu

Yiu Chung-yim MHKIS, FRICS
姚松炎
Member of the Legislative Council
In office 1 October 2016 – 12 October 2016a
Preceded by	Tony Tse
Constituency	Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape
Personal details
Born	1964 (age 52–53) Hong Kong
Alma mater	Kowloon Technical School University of Hong Kong
Occupation	Assistant professor
Profession	Professional Surveyor, Chartered Surveyor

Dr. Edward Yiu Chung-yim (Chinese: 姚松炎; born 1964) is a Hong Kong scholar and politician. He is a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong since 2016 Legislative Council election representing the Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape functional constituency.

On 14 July 2017, Yiu was disqualified by the court over his manner on oath of office at the inaugural meeting of the Legislative Council on 12 October 2016 as a result of the oath-taking controversy.^[1]

Biography

He graduated from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) with a degree in surveying in 1998 and kept on obtaining master and doctoral degrees from the HKU in 2000 and 2002 respectively. He is a member of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and various professional organisations.^[2]

He also started teaching as an instructor and lecturer at the City University of Hong Kong in 2002 and became an assistant professor at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the City University and the University of Hong Kong.^[2]

In 2016, he was elected to the Legislative Council of Hong Kong in the Legislative Council election through the Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape functional constituency, defeating incumbent Tony Tse Wai-chuen with 43 percent of the 5,735 votes cast, against Tse's 35 percent. It was the only defeat for an incumbent across the 30 functional constituencies.

At the inaugural meeting of the Legislative Council on 12 October 2016, Yiu made the oath taking ceremony as a platform to protest like other pro-democracy and localist legislators. He added the words "safeguarding the institutional justice, fighting for universal suffrage, serving for the sustainable development of Hong Kong" in his oath twice and his oaths were invalidated by the clerk. He immediately took the oath again on the request of the clerk. Yiu retook the oath at the next meeting on 19 October.^[3]

However, the oath-taking controversy sparked by two localist legislators Sixtus Leung and Yau Wai-ching of Youngspiration led to the unprecedented legal challenge from Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen against . On 7 November 2016, the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) interpreted of the Article 104 of the Basic Law of Hong Kong, standardising the manners of the oath-taking when taking public office. As a result, the duo were disqualified by the court. Subsequently, the government launched a second legal action against Law and three other pro-democracy legislators, Lau Siu-lai, Nathan Law and Leung Kwok-hung, which resulted in their disqualifications from the Legislative Council on 14 July 2017.^[1]

Notes

^a Yiu served as member of the Legislative Council until 14 July 2017 when his oath was invalidated and his seat was vacated according to the ruling of the Court of First Instance.

References

External links

• Members' Biographies, Legislative Council of Hong Kong