Is Henry Tang, CY Leung or Regina Ip right for CE leadership of Hong Kong?

Two HK Executive Council seniors, Henry Tang and C Y Leung resigned their posts to flag their 'intention to stand' for Chief Executive of the HK Special Administrative Region.

Henry drove no memorable
policy initiatives in 10 years

CY Leung is a better bet

'Flip-Flop' Rita Fan, former President of the Legislative Council and current HK delegate to the National People's Congress, endorsed Henry Tang's candidacy, then said she may run for CE herself, before finally declaring she is past it at 66 years.

Regina re-inventing herself after Article 23 fiasco

Poised to join the two prospects is former Secretary for Security, now chair of the New People's Party and legislator, Regina Ip. Many believe Regina has her sights on the 2017 CE election but may have been encouraged by Beijing's unusual reticence, to signal her availability.  


None of the three have formally filed their papers for the Chief Executive post yet. Their candidacy for election depends on securing a minimal threshold of support from an Electoral College of 1,200 whose identity will only be known in December.  


Beijing has not given the nod to any of the hopefuls so far. That has made the public posturing a circus of confused horses. The ring master is missing. Why? Perhaps the odd circumstances of the three contenders may give a clue:


Tang's wife forgives. No comment on illegitimate child

Three from same camp vie for Chief Executive 
in 2012




Given Hong Kong's nosy and intrusive press, insinuations of Henry's affair with a senior aide and other ladies surfaced. There were rumours of a child out of wedlock. Henry was advised by his PR minders to call a press conference with his wife by his side. The dutiful wife smiled bravely. Henry was contrite.


Millionaires in Hong Kong have never been starved of female company. Nobody else bothers. The PR exercise came across as unnecessary, trivial and distracting. The important question is whether Henry is the right person for the CE job?


The attempt at public confession has only put Henry under a stubborn cloud of doubt as he dodges reporters' questions of a child by the other woman. Does this say anything about Henry Tang's suitability for Chief Executive? Is it relevant at all?


Henry has distinguished himself in ten years of public service by being remembered for nothing of any significance apart from removing the tax on wine. In one sense that gives comfort to Beijing. He will not initiate or champion matters of public policy on his own. He will do as he is told.


Despite that Beijing may yet look beyond Henry Tang - if only to have a squeaky-clean CE untainted by extra-marital affairs and hounded by a paparazzi press which refuses to let go. 


Given a choice, the property tycoons whom Beijing defers to, would like Tang to be the next CE. No less than 'superman' Li Ka-shing has already endorsed Henry publicly.


CY Leung's shares shrink 90% in DTZ 


CY Leung faces a paper loss of near HK$300 million on his shares in listed DTZ Holdings Plc. He injected his real estate consultancy CY Leung & Co into the larger London listed DTZ in 1999, following that with more investment in DTZ stock in 2006 and 2009, to become one of its four largest shareholders - which got him a seat on the parent board and chairmanship of DTZ Asia-Pacific.


His shareholding was worth HK$290 million in 2007. DTZ shares from their peak in 2006 of 835 pence per share have plunged to 3 pence recently. Its latest financial position shows liabilities of HK$783 million with an alarming HK$1.1 billion in negative tangible asset value and outstanding short and long-term bank debt of more than HK$1.3 billion. DTZ's weighting in USA real estate and aggressive debt-financed acquisitions of European companies has left it badly exposed in the global downturn.


In a city which prides itself on tycoons who ride business cycles with sang-froid, this misadventure comes at the worst possible time for CY Leung. When asked about the DTZ, Leung repeated the investment caveat to reporters that shares go up and come down. He assured them he is not in financial trouble.


Hong Kong is looking for confident leadership to steer it through looming global recession and policy muddles in public housing, education, inflation, unemployment and a de-stabilizing wealth gap.


Is he a safe pair of hands? This twist of the DTZ may lose CY Leung points with both Beijing and the property tycoons stuffed into the Election Committee.


Regina Ip waits to be rewarded for loyalty


No one can doubt Regina Ip's doughty loyalty as Secretary for Security under Tung Chee-hwa, Hong Kong's first CE. She threatened, brow-beat and derided anyone who dared point out the many flaws of the hastily drafted Article 23 Security Bill.


She tried to bulldoze the Article 23 Bill through LegCo despite representations from civic society, professional bodies, media associations, journalists, lawyers and chambers of commerce. 

Popular with cartoonists

Regina Ip was HK's equivalent of  'Good Soldier Schweik' - the absurdly comic hero of the novel of the First World War in Soviet-era Czechoslovakia. Schweik personified the dilemma of citizens involved in a conflict they did not understand on behalf of a country they owed no loyalty to. His immediate, unthinking implementation of any and every order from superiors, helped undermine authority at every turn.




Hong Kong's normally staid citizenry poured out of their homes on a hot July afternoon in 2003 to flood the streets from Victoria Park to the Government Offices in Central for six hours of massive, peaceful and orderly protest against the threat to their freedoms of press, assembly and right to protest. 

HK citizens were not amused

Hong Kong has never before nor since witnessed such a powerful, disciplined display of public anger.

The shock to Beijing eventually cost Tung Chee-hwa his job. Regina Ip, her credibility in tatters, resigned to go on a study sabbatical to the US. The Bill itself was abandoned at speed. None of the establishment figures nor the pro-Beijing legislators primed to pass the Article 23 Bill, rushed to her defence. They threw her to the wolves and fled the scene. 


Since that singular lesson not to underestimate the resolve of Hong Kong residents, Beijing has been careful to gauge the public mood. It has opted for a softer touch rather than ramming through ideological agendas. That may explain the current 'wait-and-see' on the CE candidates.


Beijing continues its steady, low-key placement of loyalists in the civil service and academic institutions. 'Golden Bauhinia' medals (for distinguished public service) are pinned annually on obscure folk from previously 'underground fronts' whom most Hong Kong residents have never heard of, which attracts as much derision locally as the Confucian Prize introduced to rival the Nobel Prize.


Regina Ip is reinventing herself as a people's champion. She chairs the Savantas Institute which studies policy issues on democratic development and heads the New People's Party which garnered 4 seats in the recent District Council elections where the Democratic camp suffered a drubbing.


She stoked the anxiety of HK residents about a flood of immigrants leaving low-paid (below HK's own minimum wage) maid's jobs to compete with locals for regular employment - after a 25-year term domestic worker sought a Court ruling on right of abode.


Regina has recently given condescending advice to the Democratic camp not to stand up for moral causes like right of abode for maids and anti-racist legislation.


Regina Ip's opportunistic talent was in full display when she took off like a jack rabbit to lobby the National People's Congress in Beijing to deny right of abode to domestic helpers - even before HK Courts could hear the test case. 


As a former Principal Official of the HK Government and current legislator, she is pledged to uphold the rule of law and Hong Kong's unique Special Administrative Region status. She undermines both in her unseemly haste to parade her 'loyalty' to Beijing. She waits to be rewarded.


There have been trial balloons floated by Beijing compatriots in Hong Kong for the re-introduction of the reviled Article 23 Security Bill. That may well be a hidden condition of the appointment of the next CE. Regina Ip is eminently qualified for a repeat performance, if called upon. Beijing should be wary.


Most important job not for the most competent


The lack of universal suffrage in choosing a leader on merit, leaves the SAR poorly prepared to face the economic tsunami ahead. In boom times that may not matter but Hong Kong has already lost 14 years through limp leadership on fundamental issues. It cannot waste another five years.


Of the three hopefuls, CY Leung seems at least to have considered views on overdue policy matters. He is known to be action-oriented. The worst possible outcome in the current scenario, is for Regina Ip to slide in by default.


ENDS