A response to “How did he get it so wrong?”

Dr. Yuk-Ching Hon

6 March 2012

My friend Stella wondered if Donald Tsang will be 清算. Donald Tsang will not be 清算 but his reputation has now been dreadfully tarnished.

I have been doing a bit of search on the internet and from what I read, technically speaking, Bowtie Tsang didn’t violate any of Hong Kong’s government rules. Hong Kong regulations don’t require Tsang to make reports of his luxurious unofficial trips to Macau and Thailand because a loophole allows the chief executive to avoid reporting private gifts while in office. You see, in Hong Kong, strangely there are separate codes of conduct for the city’s civil servants and political figures. The chief executive belongs to neither category. With this interpretation, no code of conduct applies to Tsang. The declarations of gifts are voluntary and there is “no limit” on the value that he is allowed to receive. So the Shenzhen penthouse he has leased for his June retirement - from one of the principal investors of a company applying for a Hong Kong broadcasting license – doesn’t show up on the government register.

Of course, a couple of rides on luxurious yachts and private planes might not seem so shocking. But when this comes after the exposure of Tang Yin-yen’s illegal basement, you can understand the public outcry from Hong Kong citizens. People are increasingly angered by the “black box operation”. All of a sudden, they realize that their politicians are as corrupted as those in the mainland.

I agree with Mr. Peter WU that the ICAC investigation will definitely come to nothing because it is difficult to establish that Tsang’s misconduct was wilful. It is also equally hard to prove that these gifts to Tsang directly resulted in some kind of preferential treatment. And who will come forward as witnesses?

He is erring on a severe lack of judgement. There are basic rules of propriety when you are the chief executive.