Au Nok-hin

Au Nok-hin
區諾軒
Member of the Southern District Council
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 January 2012
Preceded by	Wong Che-ngai
Constituency	Lei Tung I
Personal details
Born	1987 (age 28–29) Hong Kong
Political party	Democratic Party
Alma mater	Chinese University of Hong Kong
Occupation	District councillor

Au Nok-hin (Chinese: 區諾軒; born 1987) is a Democratic Party politician in Hong Kong. He is the Southern District Councillor for Lei Tung I since 2011 and member of the executive committee of the Democratic Party. He is also a two-time candidate for the Democratic Party chairmanship elections in 2012 and 2014.

Biography

Au was born in Hong Kong in 1987 and grew up in Kai Yip Estate in Kowloon Bay. He studied at the Conservative Baptist Lui Ming Choi Primary School and the St. Joseph's Anglo-Chinese School. He participated in the students' union when he studied at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and participated in the anti-Express Rail Link protests in 2009 and 2010. He continued his study in a master program in political science at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.^[1]

Au joined the Democratic Party in 2009 and was first elected to the Southern District Council at the age of 24 in the 2011 District Council election, running in Lei Tung I, a constituency covered the Lei Tung Estate with another young Democrat Lo Kin-hei.^[2]

Au belongs to the progressive spectrum in the party, urging the party to take a more radical stance for upholding the interests and core values of the Hong Kong people. He also opposed party's stance to meet with the Beijing officials in secret. He became the youngest candidate to run in the 2012 party leadership election against the two chairpersons and veteran legislators Emily Lau and Sin Chung-kai, in the wake of Albert Ho's resignation as chairman after the party's disastrous defeat in 2012 Legislative Council election. He received 14 votes, as compared to Lau's 149 votes and Sin's 133 votes.

Au was in James To's ticket in territory-wide District Council (Second) "super seats" in the 2012 Legislative Council election, placing third after To and Andrew Chiu Ka-yin. Although Au was not elected in To's list, his ticket saw To being elected with 316,468 votes, the largest votes a ticket received in Hong Kong's electoral history.

He had a frontline role in the 2014 Hong Kong protests who stormed the "Civic Square", or the forecourt of the Central Government Complex on September 26, in the lead-up to the mass sit-ins. He has also addressed the crowds in Mong Kok some nights.^[3]

In 2014, He challenged the incumbent chairwoman Emily Lau again in the leadership re-election in a four-way contest with legislator Wu Chi-wai and party treasurer Stanley Ng.^[3] He received 33 member votes and was eliminated in the first round.^[4]

Au was tipped to run in the 2016 Legislative Council election in Hong Kong Island with another rising star Chai Man-hon.^[5] However, both Au and Chai did not submit their nominations in the intra-party pre-election primary. Au is planning to run in the Wholesale and Retail functional constituency, a long-time stronghold of the pro-Beijing camp and had been held by the Liberal Party. As he is a partner of his mother's fashion retail company which has two shops and one booth in Sincere Department Store, he is eligible to run in the trade-based constituency.^[6]

Personal life

He is a Japanese anime fan and hosts a internet radio program about Japanese culture. He also teaches Japanese in the estate he serves. He was married in 2016.^[7]

References

1. Chong, Tanna (30 December 2013). "Debate heats up over giving district councillors seats on 2017 nominating panel". South China Morning Post.
2. "Young stars aim to empower district seats". South China Morning Post. 21 November 2011.
3. Ng, Joyce (10 December 2014). "Au Nok-hin says Democratic Party needs more young blood". South China Morning Post.
4. Ng, Joyce (15 December 2014). "Re-elected Democratic Party head Emily Lau calls for party to focus on younger Hong Kong generation". South China Morning Post.
5. Lam, Jeffie; Chong, Tanna (12 September 2013). "Democrats groom hopefuls ahead of 2016 Legco poll". South China Morning Post.
6. Ng, Joyce; Fung, Owen (17 June 2016). "Hong Kong pan-democrats eye traditionally pro-establishment wholesale and retail seat". South China Morning Post.
7. "【概觀民主黨．世代交替 2】接棒 — 他們終於 Evolve 了，然後呢？". Stand News. 9 August 2016.