It wasn't really before yesterday. Having heard Leung Chun-ying speak in Legco so many times, skeptics did not expect him to reveal much at the latest meeting. At most, it would be just another routine event.
But they were proved seriously wrong. Instead, the Q&A session turned out to be a historic one. For the first time, the chief executive had his meeting with lawmakers cut short.
If Jasper Tsang Yok-sing has made history in being the first legislative president to "scissor" the CE-lawmakers meeting, Leung has made history by being the first CE to have his time shortened.
Any material impact would be limited since the meeting was already about to end. Tsang stopped the session with only five minutes remaining.
As if on cue, Leung immediately began to read out a prepared statement of condemnation while League of Social Democrats lawmaker Leung Kwok- hung shouted from behind. What can one make of all these occurrences?
Executive Council convener Lam Woon-kwong was correct in saying the relations between the executive and legislature have reached a tipping point and can be stretched no more.
Everybody it seems was under pressure in this political pressure cooker. Not only was Tsang, who is under pressure from even his own pro-Beijing ranks, the government and pan- democrats were equally under pressure of their own.
That's why Leung Chun-ying started attacking the filibusters and Occupy Central as soon as he spoke in the legislative assembly. The pan- democrats must have also been aware that both the filibusters and proponents of Occupy Central have little support in society.
Even before the session began, all were prepared for a show and had their own scripts at the ready.
First, Leung Chun-ying used the event to strike back at opponents, deliberately escalating Occupy Central to "Paralyze Central," and declaring that the police would not issue a no- objection letter to activists.
He even went further to say companies situated in the Central district will sue the activists for any losses due to their occupation action.
The trio of filibustering lawmakers - Leung Kwok-hung and People Power lawmakers Albert Chan Wai-yip and Ray Chan Chi-chuen - had also prepared their own scripts, waiting until the second half of the meeting to spring into action. Coordinated by Leung Kwok- hung, a bun was thrown in the direction of the CE.
Even the Legco president had his own thoughts. He must have waited for the theatrics to take place, first ordering lawmaker "Mad Dog" Raymond Wong Yuk-man to leave soon after the meeting started and then expelling the trio. This was all expected.
Perhaps the thing that surprised him was that if Leung Kwok-hung had left, like he has every time in the past, he didn't this time around.
Also, perhaps, not on his script was the defiant challenge of his ruling by Labour Party lawmaker Cyd Ho Sau- lan.
What happened next must have taken everyone by surprise. Tsang played outside the script by cutting the meeting short.
If the meeting was conducted mostly according to each one's own agenda, the final part wasn't. That's politics. In reality, things do not necessarily go to plan. Otherwise, there wouldn't have been so many problems.
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