LAI YING-KIT YINGKIT.LAI@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Friday, 28 August, 2015, 1:50pm
UPDATED : Friday, 28 August, 2015, 1:50pm
James Tien accused Leung of not truly adopting the “appropriately proactive” approach the leader has stressed. Photo: Felix Wong
Former Liberal Party chairman James Tien Pei-chun today waded into a row between his successor and Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying – accusing Hong Kong’s leader of being overly proactive on issues that suit his interests while ignoring those that do not.
A war of words erupted this week when Liberal Party chairman Felix Chung Kwok-pan criticised Leung’s view that the “positive non-intervention” policy should be scrapped.
Speaking to a Commercial Radio programme today, Tien accused Leung of not truly adopting the “appropriately proactive” approach the leader has stressed.
He said Leung had not actively pursued some important issues, for example, a criminal investigation into his staunch supporter Barry Cheung Chun-yuen over the collapse of the Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange, which had yielded nothing since it began in 2013.
Tien argued the case should not take such a long time and suggested Leung refused to take action. “So why there has not been anything? We suspect that [Leung] decided not to take any action because of the probe’s results,” Tien said.
Tien also said Leung might have stepped in on the University of Hong Kong’s decisions to twice delay the appointment of liberal scholar and former law dean Johannes Chan Man-mun to a pro-vice-chancellor position.
The decisions were made by the university’s governing council. Many believe they were influenced by government-appointed council members as a punishment for Chan’s close relationship with his colleague, Occupy Central co-founder Benny Tai Yiu-ting.
Tien said the chief executive, though serving as the university’s nominal head, had left appointment decisions to the university itself in the past.
He said the reason given by the council for the deferral – to wait for a supervising provost to be hired in order to give input in the appointment – was “outrageous”.
“There has not even been a candidate name for the provost yet … I think [Leung] has been overly proactively on the issue,” Tien said.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1853373/former-liberal-party-chairman-accuses-cy-leung-only-pursuing
