Quick Facts
Biography
Aron Kwok Wai-keung (Chinese: 郭偉强) is a current member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, representing the Hong Kong Island, which he was elected to in the 2016 LegCo election. Kwok is a member of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions, the largest pro-Beijing labour union in the territory. He previously held the Labour constituency, which he won uncontested in the 2012 LegCo election.
He is also a district councillor for the Eastern District Council (Provident constituency).
On 27 March 2015, Kwok was appointed one of Housing Authority members for a two-year term, starting on 1 April.
Early career
According to his Legislative Council biography, Kwok holds a diploma in social work and a Bachelor of Arts degree in social policy and administration, and is also a licensed social worker.
Kwok was a licensed representative of brokerage firm TIS Securities (HK) Limited. On 6 May 2003, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) announced that they had found Kwok guilty of misconduct under the Securities and Futures Ordinance, and suspended his licence for 12 months. According to an SFC inquiry, Kwok engaging in front running, an illegal practice, for his own profit. He also used his client's account for his own trades without the knowledge or permission of his employer and client.
Elections
Wong Tai Sin District Council
During the 2003 District Council elections, Kwok ran in Ching On constituency of Wong Tai Sin District Council, but was not elected.
Eastern District Council
Kwok ran for election in Provident constituency of the Eastern District Council during the 2007 District Council elections. He was elected with 2,527 votes. He ran uncontested during the 2011 election and 2015 election, retaining his seat by default.
He was reelected in the 2019 election with 3,229 votes, narrowly beating second-place candidate Duncann Chan by 48 votes.
Legislative Council
The pro-Beijing Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) selects members for two Legislative Council seats comprising the Labour functional constituency. Kwok, holding one of the FTU seats, was elected uncontested during the 2012 election.
During the 2016 LegCo election, he ran for a seat in the Hong Kong Island geographic constituency and was elected with 45,925 votes, or 12.2 per cent of the total votes cast.
Political career
Disqualification of localist lawmakers
Kwok has advocated removing localist legislators from office. In November 2016, he urged the government to challenge the seat of Lau Siu-lai, who was elected during that year's election, on the basis that she read her swearing-in oath very slowly as a form of protest. The government later launched legal action against Lau and other democratically elected legislators, successfully removing them from office.
Attitude toward homeless people
In November 2017, Kwok was criticised by netizens and anti-poverty activists after expressing a callous attitude toward street sleepers. He made a post on his Facebook page boasting that a footbridge in his district (Provident constituency), on Tong Shui Road, had been cleared of homeless people (and their belongings) on 23 November 2017. The Facebook post included an animated GIF, displaying the clean-up, with the words "all clean". The footbridge was popular with street sleepers as it is redundant to a crosswalk at street level and therefore sees little foot traffic. An anti-poverty activist said that Kwok's post was reminiscent of the concurrent purge of Beijing's so-called "low-end population" that has drawn international attention.
In response to the controversy, Kwok responded that the street sleepers posed a health and safety issue, and that he had received complaints about the footbridge from his constituents. He stated that homeless people should stay in shelters or apply for public housing. In response to this, some social workers responded that shelters had time limits and did not constitute a long-term housing solution, and the process for acquiring a public housing unit is not easy.
Legislative Council assault allegation
On 8 May 2020, a meeting of the House Committee of the Legislative Council became chaotic due to controversy between the pro-democracy and pro-Beijing camps over the election of the new committee chair. Live footage filmed during the meeting by Radio Television Hong Kong showed Kwok grabbing Raymond Chan Chi-chuen by the collar and dragging him to the floor. Chan was sent to hospital, where he was diagnosed with a spinal disc herniation.
On 11 May 2020, Chan announced that he had filed a report to the police, accusing Kwok of assault. Chan said he would also launch a crowdfunding campaign to fund private prosecution against Kwok, as he stated that he had little faith in the police nor the Department of Justice. Chan launched a crowdfunding campaign to pay for the prosecution, which exceeded its HK$1 million goal within hours. Kwok defended his actions, stating that he was trying to protect LegCo security guards.