Roy Kwong

Roy Kwong Chun-yu (Chinese: 鄺俊宇; born 9 February 1983) is a Hong Kong politician and novelist. He is a member of the Democratic Party and member of the Yuen Long District Council for Pek Long. He became a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong in 2016 through the District Council (Second) "super seat".

Kwong Chun-yu
鄺俊宇
Member of the Legislative Council
In office 1 October 2016 – 1 December 2020
Preceded by	Albert Ho
Constituency	District Council (Second)
Member of the Yuen Long District Council
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 January 2008
Preceded by	Chan Siu-kay
Constituency	Pek Long
Personal details
Born	9 February 1983 Hong Kong
Political party	Democratic Party
Occupation	District Councillor
Profession	Social worker

Biography

Prior to entering politics, Kwong worked in a youth centre in Long Ping Estate, Yuen Long. In 2004 he became a community officer for Democratic Party's Yuen Long District Councillor Zachary Wong and subsequently joined the party.[1]

Political career

In 2007 District Council elections, 24-year-old Kwong ran in Pek Long of the Yuen Long District Council, defeating a veteran pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) incumbent Chan Siu-kay.[1] He went on to be re-elected in 2011, 2015, and 2019.

As a 25-year-old, Kwong became the youngest candidate in the 2008 Legislative Council election, running in New Territories West with Cheung Yin-tung but was not elected. In the 2012 Legislative Council election, he ran with party chairman Albert Ho in the territory-wide District Council (Second) “super seat” and successfully helped Ho to be elected.

In the 2016 Legislative Council election, he became a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong through the District Council (Second) "super seat" with veteran James To[2] in which he won nearly 500,000 votes, the largest votes ever to be received by a ticket. He was once considered as a marginal candidate in the election according to the election poll. However, the weaker pro-democracy candidates from Civic Party, Neo Democrats and ADPL openly suspended their election campaign in order to secure the third super seat of the pro-democracy camp. Besides, he was recommended by Benny Tai's ThunderGo plan. As a result, Kwong was elected with a record-breaking number of popular votes.

Kwong has been a "familiar face" during the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests. He is often seen chanting protest slogans and calling on protesters and police alike to remain calm.[3]

On the morning of 24 September 2019, Kwong was assaulted near his Tin Shui Wai home. Three people pulled him from his car and began punching and kicking him, with one of them filming the attack. He was subsequently taken to Tin Shui Wai Hospital with injuries to his cervical vertebrae, as he was kicked in the back of the neck. The Democratic Party condemned the incident, alleging it to be an organised attack intended to intimidate supporters of the protest movement.[3] Yuen Long district councillor Zachary Wong claimed that both he and Kwong had received threatening letters a month prior.[4] The Hong Kong government condemned the attack and said the police would investigate.[5]

Writing career

Kwong is also a romantic fiction writer. He published his successful debut book Love You Like the First Time We Met in 2014. His second book, There is a Kind of Happiness Called Forgetting, sold more than 10,000 copies at the annual Hong Kong Book Fair in the same year. He also drew attention online after he published a short love essay entitled "The Last Time You Were On Whatsapp" on the internet in 2012. Kwong had attracted over 92,000 "likes" on Facebook since the essay.[6] Up to 2015, he has published seven romantic novels. His peculiar writing style is imitated and called “Kwong-style”.[7]

References

1. "年青人如何在區選突圍－－訪問鄺俊宇". inmediahk. 22 December 2007.
2. "Democratic Party lines up young guns to fight Hong Kong Legco elections". South China Morning Post. 18 April 2016.
3. "Roy Kwong taken to hospital after attack". Radio Television Hong Kong. 24 September 2019.
4. Cheng, Kris (24 September 2019). "Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmaker Roy Kwong attacked in Tin Shui Wai". Hong Kong Free Press.
5. "Government condemns violent attack". Hong Kong Government. 24 September 2019.
6. "'Slow Beat' says he's found his true love". South China Morning Post. 24 July 2014.
7. "Romance author Roy Kwong wants Hong Kong's Legislative Council to tell a better story". South China Morning Post. 20 July 2016.