New Century Forum (Chinese: 新世紀論壇) is a political party in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. The group comprises professionals, businessmen and academics, and aims to represent the voice of the middle-class. It is currently led by convenor Ma Fung Kwok.
The basic platform of the group is to consolidate the power of the middle-class and to protect the long-term interest of Hong Kong. It aims to focus on studying various public policy issues and suggest proposals in a rational and professional manner, on the basis of the "One country-two systems" principle. On political development, it advocates development of a democratic political system in a step by step process. The party is relatively small and its platforms undeveloped.
The convenor of the group, Ma Fung-kwok, previously had one seat in the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo) (2001-2004). He was elected into LegCo by the election committee in 2001, replacing the former convenor of the group, Ng Ching-fai, who resigned from LegCo to take up the office of the President of the Hong Kong Baptist University. With the cancellation of the election committee seats in the 2004 elections, the group has currently no seats in the LegCo.
Famous quotes containing the word forum:
“That age will be rich indeed when those relics which we call Classics, and the still older and more than classic but even less known Scriptures of the nations, shall have still further accumulated, when the Vaticans shall be filled with Vedas and Zendavestas and Bibles, with Homers and Dantes and Shakespeares, and all the centuries to come shall have successively deposited their trophies in the forum of the world. By such a pile we may hope to scale heaven at last.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)