Tam Tak-chi

Tam graduated from the University of Hong Kong with a bachelor degree in Chinese Language. In the early 1990s, under the stage name "Fast Beat", he teamed up with Ray Chan (aka Slow Beat) hosting a radio show on Commercial Radio Hong Kong known as Fast Slow Beats with help from Winnie Yu. The duo gained popularity when they hosted Challengers of Fire on Asia Television in 1997, but left the show one year later. They remained partners after joining Metro Showbiz in 2000 until Tam quit his career as radio host in 2007 and worked at Asia Television until 2011.[1][2]

Tam has been active in the social activism since then. Tam joined the Citizens' Radio in 2009 and became an online radio show host. In 2011, he founded the Narrow Church to promote the social justice among Christian community. He also joined the Hong Kong People Reporter, an online radio platform founded by Stephen Shiu.[3] He also joined the Power Voters, a group of activists who were disenfranchised by the Democratic Party compromise with the Beijing authorities over the constitutional reform package and ran against the Democratic Party in the 2011 District Council election.

Tam joined the People Power in 2013 after Wong Yuk-man quit the party. Tam Tak-chi took a leading supporting role in the Occupy Central with Love and Peace movement initiated by legal scholar Benny Tai.[4][5][6] He stayed in the occupation zone in Mong Kok throughout the protests in 2014. In October, Tam refused Stephen Shiu's demand of ending the Mong Kok occupation which led to Tam's departure of Shiu's online radio platform Memehk in 2016.

On 29 May 2015, Tam was arrested for "incited others to commit illegal acts" by suggesting online that the hearse carrying the body of recently died Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) leader Yeung Kwong of the 1967 Hong Kong Leftist riots would be welcomed by "home-made pineapples" – a code that referred to bombs during the turmoil.[7]

Tam ran in the elections in several levels on many occasions. In the 2015 District Council election, he ran against incumbent legislator Wong Kwok-hing of FTU in Siu Sai Wan but lost by a wide margin. In the 2016 Legislative Council election, Tam ran in Kowloon East but finished in seventh place in a five-member constituency.[8][9]

In the 2019 District Council election, he ran against incumbent legislator Wilson Or of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) in Kwong Tak but lost only by a narrow margin of 187 votes.[10]

On 24 May 2020, Tam was arrested opposite Sogo Hong Kong in Causeway Bay for participating in illegal assembly to protest against the national security law.[11] He ran in the 2020 pro-democracy primaries for the 2020 Legislative Council election in Kowloon East and received 10,980 votes, ranking the fourth place and thus secured the nomination to run in the general election.[12]

On 17 July 2020, Tam was again arrested, this time on charges of incitement to participate in unlawful assembly in relation to a protest in January, seditious intention, and disorder in public places. As the national security law is not retroactive, it was not immediately clear what had incurred the last of these charges, while sedition is covered by British colonial era legislation.[13]

On 6 September 2020, Tam was arrested again. He was accused of "inciting hatred and contempt against the government" while speaking at street booths in June and August 2020.[14]

On 21 October 2020, Tam asked the court to dismiss the sedition charges against him alleging that the colonial-era charges violate the Basic Law. Tam also said the indictment also breached international human rights covenants adopted by the United Nations.[15]