Beijing gives Tsang a slap in the
face By Augustine Tan
HONG KONG - Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, the
second chief executive of Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region, stepped down from office
over the weekend after serving seven years without
getting a time-honored sinecure from the central
government of China. In the context of Chinese
culture, that's a slap in the face.
By
comparison, his predecessor Tung Chee-hwa, though
retired somewhat disgracefully, was given an
honorary status of a "state leader" -
vice-chairman of the Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference. Some observers point out
that there may be a grace period before Beijing
makes its final decision on whether and how to
reward Tsang for his seven years of service. But
it is almost certain that the central leadership
is much less
happy and satisfied with
Tsang's service than with Tung's.
In any
case, on the day he officially stepped down, Tsang
still had to stay around to hear President Hu
Jintao pointedly tell his successor Leung
Chun-ying to run "a clean and efficient"
government in Hong Kong.
Since the
integrity of Hong Kong's leaders has never been
challenged before and corruption in government was
never a public issue until recently, this was
clearly regarded as a matter of grave concern.
Beijing may yet throw a sop at Tsang, but
there's no doubt that the central government has
judged Tsang's administration of Hong Kong and
found him wanting.
Seven years of Tsang's
stewardship has left Hong Kong more divided, and
more lopsided in its division of wealth since
Britain handed its "Pearl of the Orient" back to
China.
Tsang undoubtedly was aware of
Beijing's assessment. When he stepped out of his
official residence, Government House, just before
midnight on Sunday, his bow-tie firmly in place, a
painful smile frozen on his face, he looked as if
he were walking the last stretch to the
guillotine. It was that grim.
The final
weeks of his administration were most unlike any
other run-up to a change in administration. Some
of his key people were busy undermining his
successor in public. Every day brought a fresh
"expose" about "illegal structures" in Leung's
house on Victoria Peak. Every expose brought fresh
demands that Leung "step down" even before his
taking office. And every fresh demand sparked
questions about Leung's ability to manage Hong
Kong.
It was not lost on pro-Beijing
Hongkongers that Tsang and most of his officials,
in close partnership with the property tycoons,
had strenuously supported Henry Tang Ying-yen, the
former chief secretary for administration, for the
chief-executive succession in March. The
front-runner until the final few weeks and long
regarded as Beijing's candidate, Tang was thrashed
by Leung.
Tang was floored by exposes of
his infidelities, his illegally constructed
basement "palace" in his villa home at Kowloon
Tong, and for spinelessly pushing his wife forward
to take the blame for some of his wrongdoings.
During the election campaign there were
exposes and counter-exposes. Donald Tsang's
support of Tang brought out into the open a slew
of questionable dealings the former had with
several tycoons, including a sweetheart deal for a
luxury retirement apartment in Shenzhen, and
various other examples of high living and
traveling at public expense.
His
supporters and officials saw the exposes as
Beijing-instigated punishment for interfering in a
selection process that is a monopoly of the
central government.
Tsang went to the
Legislative Council several times to apologize for
his shortcomings. But detractors noted that
corruption had dogged Tsang even earlier. They
included the offer of a government cash coupon for
those who switched to energy-saving light bulbs,
which ostensibly benefited an in-law.
Over
the past few years many people, especially those
in the pro-Beijing camp, have asked whether there
was any correlation between Tsang's proximity to
the property tycoons and the almost total absence
of housing development for the lower-income
groups. Not until his final year in office was any
land released for low-cost housing. Instead, the
Home Ownership Scheme originally set up to provide
housing for the middle class was declared a
"failure" and ordered to surrender its holdings -
for private development.
The scheme was
revived last year at the instigation of Wang
Guangya, director of the Hong Kong and Macau
Affairs Office under the State Council, China's
cabinet.
It was a rare instance of direct
intervention by the central government. According
to a member of the National People's Congress
(NPC), China's parliament, who spoke on condition
of anonymity, Tsang had threatened to resign over
thorny issues on several occasions.
"Now
everything has come to an end, and CY [Leung] will
take over; it's all about revenge ... Somebody has
to pay for one candidate's loss. There's going to
be a lot more in the coming months," the NPC
member added.
The campaign against Leung
morphed into one of the largest ever
anti-government, anti-Beijing protest marches in
Hong Kong since 2003, with more than 100,000
marching from Victoria Park to the new government
headquarters in Admiralty to demand Leung's
departure - just a few hours after he was sworn in
by President Hu on Sunday.
While the
central government may not be overly concerned
about such demonstrations, it is entirely a
different matter when it comes to divisions within
the pro-Beijing camp. And the property tycoons
have been very much an integral part of that camp.
Others like NPC Standing Committee member Rita Fan
Hsu Lai-tai, the former president of the
Legislative Council who seriously wanted to run
for the chief executive's post but found no
supporters from within the pro-Beijing camp, have
also been taking swings at Leung.
The
attacks against Leung have since the weekend
extended to officials he has selected to be part
of his government. His choices have been described
as lightweight, inexperienced and worse.
Tsang's supporters, if not Tsang himself,
have been very active in promoting the rift. With
Legislative Council elections scheduled for
September, it is unlikely that Beijing will take
its eyes off Hong Kong in the coming months.
Leung's attempt to get the Legislative
Council to approve his plan to revamp the
government shortly before he took office was
defeated by one vote. This showed how precarious
his position - and that of the central government
- can be if the division within the pro-Beijing
camp is allowed to fester.
The slap in the
face for Donald Tsang may be just the beginning -
and the easiest step to take. More difficult might
be calming the tycoons, who may just be mad enough
to want to take their fight to the mainland.
They won't win, but might be able to
create some upsets. Is this why the richest
Chinese in the world, property tycoon Li Ka-shing,
is preparing to withdraw from the scene altogether
by announcing how his empire will be divided
between his two sons?
Augustine
Tan is a Hong Kong-based journalist.
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