Hong Kong chief executive-elect Leung Chun-ying (梁振英) got down to business yesterday after winning the most divisive leadership election the city has seen since the 1997 handover to China.
He appointed members of his media team and promised a smooth transition from the administration of outgoing Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang (曾蔭權), the bow-tie wearing career bureaucrat whose term expires in June.
“The office of the chief executive-elect sprang into action shortly after the result of the election was announced,” Leung told a press conference with Tsang a day after being anointed as leader by the territory’s elite. “I will work very hard to ensure in the next few months the transition works well.”
Photo: Reuters
Leung, 57, garnered 689 of the votes from the 1,200-strong election committee, which is heavily stacked with pro-Beijing tycoons and members of the political class.
He promised to “reunite” Hong Kong and protect its “rights and freedoms” following an election which split the territory’s establishment camp and forced Beijing to heed popular opinion as never before.
Pro-democracy protesters condemned the election as a farce and demanded full suffrage for the semi-autonomous former British colony of 7 million people, which is ruled by Beijing according to the “one country, two systems” principle.
However, Tsang, whose public approval ratings are low after seven years in office, said the election went smoothly and “underlines the success of ‘one country, two systems.’”
“It is also an important milestone in our constitutional development,” Tsang added, calling on Hong Kongers to “rally around” Leung as only the territory’s third post-handover chief executive.
A policeman’s son turned self-made property guru and veteran government adviser, Leung is nicknamed “The Wolf” because of perceptions of his ruthless cunning and inscrutable intelligence.
He lived up to his reputation throughout the election campaign, which he began as a rank outsider compared with Henry Tang (唐英年), the son of a textile tycoon whom most believed had Beijing’s blessing to walk into the leadership job.
However, Tang’s campaign imploded in scandals including a confession of marital infidelity and the discovery of an illegal entertainment suite at his luxury home, sending his popular approval ratings plummeting.
This left Leung the next-best choice for Beijing despite reservations from the territory’s business elite about his populist promises to address soaring property prices, and persistent rumors that he is a secret communist.
Observers said that with only 58 percent of the election committee’s vote, the man commonly known as C.Y. could not rest on his laurels.
“The immediate challenge facing Leung is daunting. He has to bridge an unprecedented political divide arising from the cut-throat race between the two pro-establishment camps,” the South China Morning Post wrote in an editorial.
It said that he received only 17.8 percent of the vote in a mock election by the University of Hong Kong on Saturday. More than half of the 223,000 voters rejected all the candidates and returned blank ballots.
“Had there been a popular vote, it would have been inconclusive,” the Post said, calling Leung the “weakest leader-in-waiting” the territory has had seen since 1997.
The Apple Daily, which is critical of Beijing’s influence in Hong Kong, said the protests surrounding the election were unprecedented.
“The leader has not even started his term, but he is already being asked to step down,” it said. “It’s a shame that Mr Leung was hiding inside the convention center and could not hear the real voices of the public.”
However, the pro-Beijing China Daily said Leung “deserves the respect of the community, including election committee members who didn’t vote in his favor.”
One of those, Asia’s richest man, Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠), refused to drop his support for Tang despite Beijing’s last-minute backing for Leung — a sign of the divisions that the policeman’s son will have to deal with from July.
Leung must restore confidence in the territory’s leadership and build trust between political parties, the Hong Kong Economic Times said yesterday in its editorial.
“You have a chief executive that doesn’t have the people’s mandate and the integrity and credibility are in question,” Hong Kong Legislator Emily Lau (劉慧卿) said yesterday. “I think he’s really got a very, very tough task ahead.”
Leung must battle a public perception that he is stiff and uncomfortable in the spotlight.
“Bill Clinton, he’ll make you think he’s your best friend inside of 10 minutes,” said Ronnie Chan, chairman of developer Hang Lung Properties, who has known Leung for 30 years and is one of his most vocal supporters. “For C.Y., you may not feel that even after knowing him for 10 years.”
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