Ip Kwok-him, GBM, GBS, JP ( zh, 葉國謙; born 8 November 1951) is a former unofficial member of the

Executive Council of Hong Kong The Executive Council of Hong Kong (ExCo) is the Cabinet (government), cabinet of the Government of Hong Kong, acting as a formal body of advisers to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong that serves as a core policy-making organ assisting the c ...

, served between 2016 and 2022. He is also former member of the

Legislative Council of Hong Kong The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, colloquially known as LegCo, is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Hong Kong. It sits under People's Republic of China, China's "one country, two systems" c ...

for the

District Council (First) The District Council (First) functional constituency (), formerly called District Council until 2012, was a functional constituency in the elections for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. Its electorate consists of all 431 directly elected mem ...

functional constituency A functional constituency is an electoral device (a non-geographical constituency) used within the political systems of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China: * Functional constituency in Hong Kong * Indirectly el ...

and Hong Kong delegate to the

National People's Congress The National People's Congress (NPC) is the highest organ of state power of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The NPC is the only branch of government in China, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs from the Sta ...

and the former convenor of the caucus of the

Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) is a Pro-Beijing camp (Hong Kong), pro-Beijing political party registered since 1992 in Hong Kong. Chaired by Gary Chan and holding 19 Legislative Council of Hong Kong ...

(DAB) in the Legislative Council. He was awarded the Grand Bauhinia Medal (GBM) by the Hong Kong SAR Government in 2017.

Early life, education and teaching career

Ip was born in Hong Kong on 8 November 1951 to a driver father. His father came from Guangzhou before the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

took over. He studied at the Hon Wah College, a leftist pro-Communist school in the Western District. He later graduated from the

South China Normal University South China Normal University (SCNU) is a Types of universities and colleges in China, provincial public normal university in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It is affiliated with the Province of Guangdong, and co-sponsored by the provincial gover ...

with a degree in Bachelor of Art in Geography. After he graduated, he returned to the Hon Wah College as a teacher where he taught for 20 years.

1967 Leftist riots

During the

1967 Hong Kong riots The 1967 Hong Kong riots were large-scale anti-government riots that occurred in Hong Kong during British colonial rule. Beginning as a minor labour dispute, the demonstrations eventually escalated into protests against the colonial governmen ...

, he was member of the

Committee of Hong Kong and Kowloon Compatriots from All Circles for Struggle Against British Hong Kong Persecution The Committee of Hong Kong–Kowloon Chinese Compatriots of All Circles for the Struggle Against Persecution by the British Authorities in Hong Kong, often shortened to the Struggle Committee, was a political committee which opposed the Britis ...

as a student of the Hon Wah College. He was sent to Macao by the

Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (HKFTU) is a pro-Beijing labour and political group established in 1948 in Hong Kong. It is the oldest and largest labour group in Hong Kong with over 420,000 members in 253 affiliates and associated ...

(HKFTU) to learn about the December 3 Incident launched by the Macao leftists which successfully led to the concession from Portuguese colonial government.

Political career

District Councillor

He became active in local politics in the mid-1980s when he became vice chairman of a research centre for the development of the

Central and Western District The Central and Western District (, ) located on northwestern part of Hong Kong Island is one of the districts of Hong Kong, 18 administrative districts of Hong Kong. It had a population of 243,266 in 2016. The district has the most educated ...

, a supplementary member of the Central and Western District Board. He also co-founded the working committee on concerning the

Hong Kong Basic Law The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China is a national law of China that serves as the organic law for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). With nine chapters, 160 article ...

with

Ambrose Lau Hon-chuen Ambrose Lau Hon-chuen, GBS JP () (born 16 July 1947) was the chairman of the Hong Kong Progressive Alliance (HKPA), a pro-business and pro-Beijing political party in Hong Kong. He was a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo), el ...

, the chairman of the Central and Western District Board. He first ran for office in the 1991 District Board elections, for the Central and Western District Board in the Kennedy Town West & Mount Davis. He was elected with incumbent Chan Tak-chor, receiving 2,942 votes and defeating incumbent Wong Sui-lai of the pro-democratic

United Democrats of Hong Kong The United Democrats of Hong Kong (; UDHK) was the first political party in Hong Kong. Founded in 1990, the short-lived party was the united front of the liberal democracy forces in preparation of the 1991 first ever direct election for the ...

(UDHK). In the 1994 District Board elections, he was re-elected in Kwun Lung and held the seat until he was defeated by legislator

Cyd Ho Sau-lan Cyd Ho Sau-lan () is a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (Legco) for the Hong Kong Island constituency. She is a founding member of the Labour Party, since December 2011, and currently holds the position of vice-chairwoman ...

of the pro-democratic The Frontier in the 2003 District Council elections when his party suffered a devastating defeat in the territory-wide local election. He won back the seat in Kwun Lung in 2007 and held the seat until he stepped down in 2015.

Legislative Councillor

He became a founding member of the

Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) is a pro-Beijing political party registered since 1992 in Hong Kong. Chaired by Gary Chan and holding 19 Legislative Council seats, it is currently the largest party ...

(DAB), a flagship

pro-Beijing The pro-Beijing camp, pro-establishment camp or pro-China camp is a political alignment in Hong Kong which generally supports the policies of the Beijing central government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) towards Hong Kong. The term " ...

party set up by a group of traditional leftists in 1992. He was a long-time chairman of the party, serving from 1998 to 2009. He was first elected to the

in the last colonial legislative election in 1995 through the ten-seat

Election Committee The Election Committee is the electoral college in Hong Kong that selects the Chief Executive (CE) and, since 2021, elects 40 of the 90 members of the Legislative Council. Established by Annex I of the Basic Law of Hong Kong which states ...

consisting of all District Board members. In 1996, he was appointed to the Beijing-controlled

Provisional Legislative Council The Provisional Legislative Council (PLC) was the interim legislature of Hong Kong that operated from 1997 to 1998. The legislature was founded in Guangzhou and sat in Shenzhen from 1996 (with offices in Hong Kong), until the 1997 handover whe ...

. In the first SAR legislative election in 1998, he formed a ticket with Gary Cheng Kai-nam in

Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island () is an island in the southern part of Hong Kong. The island, known originally and on road signs simply as "Hong Kong", had a population of 1,289,500 and a population density of , . It is the second largest island in Hong Kon ...

in which Cheng was elected. He returned to the Legislative Council in 2000 when he was elected through the newly created in District Council constituency which was elected by all District Councillors. After he lost his District Council seat in 2003, he was not eligible to run for the constituency in the 2004 Legislative Council election. In the same year, he was awarded the

Gold Bauhinia Star The Gold Bauhinia Star (, GBS) is the highest rank in Order of the Bauhinia Star, under the Order (distinction), honours system of Hong Kong, created in 1997 to replace the British honours system after the Handover of Hong Kong, transfer of sovere ...

(GBS) by the government. He returned to the Legislative Council through the same constituency in 2008 and has held the seat since then. After retiring from the District Council in 2015, he would also step down in the upcoming 2016 Legislative Council election. As a Legislative Councillors, Ip held many other public positions, including on the Board of directors of the

Urban Renewal Authority The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) is a quasi-governmental, profit-making statutory body in Hong Kong responsible for accelerating urban redevelopment. History The authority's predecessor, the Land Development Corporation (土地發展� ...

. He stepped down from the Legislative Council in 2016 and was succeeded by

Lau Kwok-fan Edward Lau Kwok-fan, MH, JP (; born 28 June 1981) is a Hong Kong politician. He is the member of the executive committee of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) and former member of the North District Coun ...

2015 electoral reform walkout

According to a chat record leaked to the ''

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remaine ...

'', Ip, as the convenor of the DAB caucus and the coordinator of the pro-Beijing camp, was responsible together with the Legislative Council President Jasper Tsang Yok-sing for the walk-out that resulted in a humiliating defeat of the pro-Beijing parties in the electoral reform voting at the Legislative Council in July 2015.

Executive Councillor

Ip was appointed to the

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Leung Chun-ying Leung Chun-ying ( zh, t=梁振英; born 12 August 1954), also known as CY Leung, is a Hong Kong politician and chartered surveyor who has served as vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Confe ...

on 17 March 2016, succeeding resigning DAB chairwoman Starry Lee Wai-king. He is also a Hong Kong deputy to the China's

. In February 2021, Ip said that he supported reforms to the election system in Hong Kong proposed by the

NPCSC The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) is the permanent body of the National People's Congress (NPC), the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. It exercises the powers of the NPC when it is not in s ...

, and that the 117 seats district councillors hold in the chief executive election committee are held by those who "advocate mutual destruction for Hong Kong." In response, Ma Ngok from Chinese University said that doing so would eliminate public participation in choosing the chief executive. On 5 January 2022, Chief Executive

Carrie Lam Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor ( Cheng; ; born 13 May 1957) is a retired Hong Kong politician who served as the fourth Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2017 to 2022, after serving as Chief Secretary for Administration for five years. After g ...

announced new warnings and restrictions against social gathering due to potential

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

outbreaks. One day later, it was discovered that

Caspar Tsui Caspar Tsui Ying-wai (; born 2 September 1977) is a Hong Kong politician, government official and DAB party member. From 2020 to 2022, he has been Secretary for Home Affairs. Tsui used to be a columnist for the opinion section of Ming Pao. In ...

attended a birthday party hosted by Witman Hung Wai-man, with 222 guests. At least one guest tested positive with COVID-19, causing many guests to be quarantined. Ip, several times, later called on Carrie Lam to be lenient towards Tsui. In February 2022, after the Witman Hung birthday party controversy, Ng defended Hung and said that "I don’t think we need to discuss punishing Hung as he did not cause disrepute to the NPC".

Family

Ip is married with one son and one daughter. His twin brother, Ip Kwok-chung, is a former member of the

Urban Council of Hong Kong The Urban Council (UrbCo) was a municipal council in Hong Kong responsible for municipal services on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon (including New Kowloon). These services were provided by the council's executive arm, the Urban Services ...

and the

Yau Tsim Mong District Council The Yau Tsim Mong District Council is the district council of Hong Kong, district council for the Yau Tsim Mong District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 such councils. The Yau Tsim Mong District Council currently consists of 20 members, of which ...

. His nephew, Chris Ip Ngo-tung, is the current chairman of the

References

External links

Official website of Ip Kwok-him
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ip, Kwok-him 1951 births Living people Hong Kong educators Delegates to the 10th National People's Congress from Hong Kong Delegates to the 11th National People's Congress from Hong Kong Delegates to the 12th National People's Congress from Hong Kong Delegates to the 13th National People's Congress from Hong Kong District councillors of Central and Western District Meeting Point politicians Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong politicians Members of the Provisional Legislative Council Members of the Executive Council of Hong Kong HK LegCo Members 1995–1997 HK LegCo Members 2000–2004 HK LegCo Members 2008–2012 HK LegCo Members 2012–2016 1967 Hong Kong riots Members of the Selection Committee of Hong Kong Recipients of the Gold Bauhinia Star Recipients of the Grand Bauhinia Medal Hong Kong twins Hong Kong justices of the peace