My Family | My Youth | My Career | My Candidacy | Bio-data

Let There Be No Regrets

Having left the post of Chief Secretary for Administration, I was able to spend a lot more time with my family; I was also able to pursue the ideals of my youth by serving the community in unofficial positions. My voluntary roles include: Vice-Chairman of the Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF, Patron of the Children’s Cancer Fund, Member of the Salvation Army Advisory Board and Patron of the English-Speaking Union.

In order that I may repay some of what the Sacred Heart Canossian College has done for me in my youth, I visit the school every Friday morning to chat with students. We talk about a wide range of matters ranging from their studies, the social and environmental challenges facing our community and current topics of national and international importance. Adolescent girls have a lot on their mind, but sometimes they don’t want to reveal everything to their parents and teachers. I am heartened that they obviously feel that I am a good listener who can be trusted with their concerns and that I am able, by sharing my experience of life, to help put their worries into perspective.

By 2005 – with the awful trauma of SARS well behind us – I began to feel increasingly concerned at the lack of progress being made in the gradual and orderly development of democratic governance promised to Hong Kong people in the Basic Law. I detected a sense of public helplessness about the prevailing situation and so, after very careful consideration, I decided to stand up and be counted publicly in the fight for democracy by joining the march for universal suffrage in December that year.

In mid-2006, I decided to go further to try and stimulate public discussion on how to achieve a roadmap and timetable for achievement of full universal suffrage for the election of the Chief Executive and all members of the Legislative Council. I invited six persons, who share my ideals, to form a Core Group to help me design specific proposals for consideration by Government and the wider community. Our proposals were subsequently published in March 2007, since when we have also commented in detail on the Government Green Paper on Constitutional Development.

When I set up my Core Group I had no intention of running for political office, but the opportunity offered by the forthcoming Legislative Council By-election, in the Hong Kong Island Constituency, is one which I cannot pass up. Standing for election is for me the most powerful way in which I can express my commitment to the cause of democratically based good governance. If elected, I will have a firm platform on which to champion the cause of early universal suffrage in the Legislative Council and to press for the social, educational and environmental causes which are so close to my heart.

This is a crucial time in Hong Kong’s constitutional development. I sincerely hope that the voters of Hong Kong Island will use their votes in this Legislative Council by-election to send a strong message to the SAR and Central Governments as to their aspirations for democratic development and full unconditional universal suffrage. This will enhance the legitimacy and transparency of the Government and help to guard against unfair policies and cronyism which favour certain vested interests at the expense of the community as a whole. Only a government with the people’s mandate can co-operate effectively with political parties and elected representatives of the people and allow all to work together for the building of a harmonious, just and caring society.

I thank you for your interest in my candidacy and look forward to your support on Election Day: 2 December.