STUART LAU STUART.LAU@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Monday, 05 October, 2015, 1:32pm
UPDATED : Monday, 05 October, 2015, 1:33pm
Tsang vowed to bring clean and efficient service to the government when took office in 2005 but eventually was mired in scandal when he left in 2012. Photo: SCMP Pictures
When Donald Tsang Yam-kuen threw his hat in the ring for Hong Kong’s top job a decade ago, he vowed to deliver a “clean and efficient civil service” as part of his platform.
Tsang shot to prominence in 1995 when Hong Kong’s last governor Chris Patten promoted him to financial secretary, the first Chinese to hold the third-ranking position in government. He continued in the role after the handover and was soon confronted with the Asian financial crisis, which he handled with success.
Six years later, he rose further to be chief secretary for the administration, after his predecessor Anson Chan Fang On-sang’s shock resignation from the team of chief executive Tung Chee-hwa.
Little was achieved by Tsang during his time as the city’s second-ranking official. When Sars broke out in 2003, he was assigned as leader of a citywide clean-up campaign, a role that won more public mockery than recognition.
Tsang’s personal glory came in 2005, however, when his boss Tung resigned amid plummeting popularity. A few months later, Tsang was the only potential successor to succeed him, a welcome sign to the public underpinned by a sense of nostalgia for a bygone era.
Bill Wong Cho-bau offered Tsang a luxury apartment in Shenzhen at a bargain rate for which the former chief executive was heavily criticised. Photo: SCMP PicturesEnjoying a popularity honeymoon in his first two-year term inherited from Tung’s remainder, Tsang’s public support started to decline after re-election in 2007.
What effectively shattered public confidence in his leadership came dramatically in his final days on Hong Kong’s political stage.
That was when his close dealings with business tycoons and stays at luxury hotel suites overseas at public expenses came to light. Tsang was allegedly offered a bargain deal to rent a luxury apartment in Shenzhen from businessman Bill Wong Cho-bau, after Tsang’s Executive Council awarded the digital broadcasting licence to DBC, of which Wong was a major shareholder. Denying policy favouritism, Tsang escaped impeachment and a vote of no confidence by the legislature.
A month before his term came to an end in July 2012, Tsang was fighting back tears as he delivered his “sincere apologies” over the scandal in what amounted to perhaps the most humiliating moment of his public life.
With the case now unfolding, more details will emerge as to what exactly drew Tsang into the centre of the present criminal investigation. And the outcome might offer some answers to questions Tsang himself posed during an election speech in 2005: “Is this the Hong Kong that we know of? Is this the Hong Kong that we take great pride in?”
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1864199/donald-tsang-pledge-clean-and-efficient-service-gave-way
