Hong Kong legislator Junius Ho Kwan-yiu. Photo: VCG

The victory of five candidates who support the pro-establishment camp at the Hong Kong Law Society's council election serves as a wake-up call for those who still have the illusion about using professional groups to provoke radical anti-government movements and advocate for so-called freedom as well as democratic values but with the true intention of instigating secessionism, the former president of the Law Society told the Global Times. 

In an exclusive interview with the Global Times on Wednesday, solicitor Junius Ho Kwan-yiu said he felt reassured after seeing that candidates who support the pro-establishment camp gained more votes than those who are leaning to the pro-opposition camp. "The latest election attracted a lot of attention. If those candidates who are in favor of the opposition camp had won, the group might have been controlled by the opposition camp," he said. 

Five candidates including Careen Wong and Jimmy Chan, who support the pro-establishment camp, won the election, local news site TVB News reported on Tuesday.

Among the candidates, four are considered as coming from the pro-opposition camp including Jonathan Ross, who recently announced he was withdrawing his name as candidate "for safety concerns," as well as Selma Masood, Henry Wheare and Denis Brock.

These so-called pro-opposition candidates have been engaging in politics, Ho said, noting that in recent years they have been whitewashing the violence. 

"During the black-clad riots in 2019, some ignored the facts that the radical protests vandalized public property and violated the law, vowing to stand with them as a way of tolerating secessionism and 'Hong Kong independence,'" Ho said, noting that the result of the election is a direct warning to those who still have the illusion of turning the Law Society into a political group. 

Days ahead of the council election of the largest legal body in Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, chief executive of the HKSAR government, warned the Law Society not to let politics override its professionalism, otherwise the government would consider ending cooperation with it.

By excluding those candidates who are considered potential troublemakers, the Law Society is expected to play bigger role in enhancing the legal exchanges between the mainland and Hong Kong in the future, Ho said, noting that such cooperation could set a good example for further exchanges between the mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and the island of Taiwan.