Kwok Ka-ki

Kwok Ka-ki (Chinese: 郭家麒; born 20 July 1961) is a democratic Hong Kong politician. He is a private urology doctor, having graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong. Kwok is a member of the Civic Party, having joined on 19 July 2010. On 11 November 2020, he was disqualified from the Legislative Council, along with three other lawmakers of the pan-democratic camp, by the central government in Beijing on request of the Hong Kong government. A mass resignation of pan-democrats the same day left the Legislative Council without a substantial opposition.

Kwok Ka-ki
郭家麒
Member of the Legislative Council
In office 1 October 2012 – 11 November 2020
Preceded by	Albert Ho
Constituency	New Territories West
In office 1 October 2004 – 30 September 2008
Preceded by	Lo Wing-lok
Succeeded by	Leung Ka-lau
Constituency	Medical
Member of the Central and Western District Council
In office 1 November 1994 – 1 January 2008
Preceded by	Lam Kin-lai Chow Wai-keung
Succeeded by	Jackie Cheung Yick-hung
Constituency	Mid Levels East
Personal details
Born	20 July 1961 British Hong Kong
Political party	Civic Party
Other political affiliations	CWDP
Spouse(s)	Shirley Kwok
Education	CCC Chuen Yuen College
Alma mater	University of Hong Kong (MBBS, MA)
Profession	Urologist
Signature

Kwok Ka-ki
Chinese	郭家麒
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Guō Jiāqí Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Gwok Gā Kèih Jyutping Gwok^3 Gaa^1 Kei^4

Early life and education

Kwok has family roots in Jieyang, Guangdong.[1] He graduated in 1985 from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong.[2] After graduation, he worked as a private urology doctor.[1][3]

Political career

Kwok Ka-ki served three terms in the Legislative Council. From 2004 to 2008 he served as a member for the Medical functional constituency, losing in the 2008 Hong Kong legislative election to Leung Ka-lau.[1] From 2012 to 2020, Kwok served as a member of the Legislative Council for New Territories West.[4][5] From 1994 until 2007, Kwok was a member of the Central and Western District Council,[1][6] representing Mid Levels East.

Opposition to renaming of the HKU Faculty of Medicine

On 23 May 2005, Kwok participated in a press conference of University of Hong Kong alumni who protested the renaming of the university's Faculty of Medicine as Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine. The renaming was to honour a donation of 128 million US dollars to the faculty by business tycoon and philanthropist Li Ka-shing. In an interview at that time, Kwok complained about the lack of transparent process prior to the decision.[2]

Condemnation of police during the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests

During the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, Kwok lambasted the police strategy during the 2019 Prince Edward station attack of 31 August 2019, which allegedly hindered first aiders from entering the station to treat the wounded, as a "behaviour unbefitting of monsters".[7]

Criticism of government COVID-19 measures

On 28 April 2020, Food and Health Secretary Sophia Chan announced that due to the easing of the COVID-19 pandemic, entry restrictions from the mainland that had been imposed earlier in the pandemic would be scrapped for students, teachers and people with business activities "beneficial to Hong Kong". Kwok sharply criticized this decision, saying that the risk of imported COVID-19 cases from mainland China was still great, and likening the step to "inviting a wolf into your home".[8][9]

In October 2020, Kwok criticized the plan of the Hong Kong government to introduce mandatory COVID-19 testing for patients with symptoms, saying that making tests mandatory would breach the medical code of practice, could possibly be counterproductive due to those who did not want to be tested not seeking medical attention, and be a waste of government resources as symptoms such as headaches were also common in diseases other than COVID-19. He also slammed the government's easing of social distancing measures for local tour groups and wedding ceremonies to a respective limit of 30 and 50 people respectively, alleging that the continuing four-person gathering limit had remained in place in order to suppress public demonstrations.[3]

Political disqualification

Five weeks ahead of the (subsequently postponed) 2020 Hong Kong Legislative Council Election, on 30 July 2020, as Kwok prepared to defend his seat, the government stated that he was among a dozen pro-democracy candidates whose nominations were 'invalid', under an opaque process in which, nominally, civil servants – returning officers – assess whether, for instance, a candidate had objected to the enactment of the national security law, or was sincere in statements made disavowing separatism.[10] On 11 November 2020, following a decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress he was disqualified from Legislative Council along with three other lawmakers; this resulted in the resignation of a further 15 pro-democracy lawmakers.[11]

Personal life

On 15 July 2017, he was denied entry to Macau, with authorities citing as reason his being a threat to internal security. Kwok called the decision "extremely ridiculous" and asked Chief Executive Carrie Lam to request an explanation from Macau authorities.[12]

References

1. "郭家麒" [Kwok Ka-Ki]. www.symedialab.com (in Chinese). n.d. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
2. Parry, Jane (23 May 2005). "Concern over renaming at HKU". www.the-scientist.com. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
3. "Calls to set up "Covid clinics" at the 18 districts". The Standard. 20 October 2020. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
4. Hung, Cheryl (11 November 2020). "Who are Hong Kong's four ousted Legco members, and what exactly did they do?". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 25 December 2020 – via Yahoo! News.
5. 2016 Legislative Council Election, Election Results
6. Yearbook 2006, Appendix 3, Hong Kong Government
7. Tong, Elson (1 September 2019). "Hong Kong reels from chaos: 3 MTR stations remain closed, police defend storming trains, more demos planned". Hong Kong Free Press. Archived from the original on 1 September 2019. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
8. "Relaxed measures like letting wolves in: Kwok Ka-ki". rthk.hk. 28 April 2020. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
9. "Hong Kong to reopen some public facilities on May 6". South China Morning Post / dpa. 29 April 2020. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
10. Ho, Kelly; Grundy, Tom; Creery, Jennifer (30 July 2020). "Hong Kong bans Joshua Wong and 11 other pro-democracy figures from legislative election". Hong Kong Free Press. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
11. "Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers resign after China ruling". BBC News. 11 November 2020. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
12. Cheng, Kris (17 July 2017). "Pro-democracy lawmaker barred from entering Macau for wedding anniversary celebration". Hong Kong Free Press. Retrieved 3 December 2020.