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My little secret
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From Hong Kong iMail Feb 14
THE man tipped to be the next Chief Secretary for Administration said yesterday he had three times urged Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa to keep him in his present post.
Financial Secretary Donald Tsang Yam-kuen said he had told Mr Tung there were better candidates within the civil service to do the job. But Mr Tsang, disclosing this “little secret”, did not say he had rejected the offer to take over the post made vacant by the retirement of Anson Chan Fang On-sang. “It's Mr Tung's decision,” Mr Tsang told a group of about 900 youngsters.
In relaxed mood at the gathering in Aberdeen, organised by the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups, Mr Tsang disclosed another “little secret” - that he had succumbed to pressure from two senior colleagues before intervening in the stock market at the height of the Asian financial crisis.
On his likely promotion, Mr Tsang said: “It's not good for me to talk too much on this ... but I can tell you a little secret. After Mrs Chan resigned, Mr Tung and I indeed discussed the post a few times.
“I'm not saying I was asked to take the post ... I gave my suggestion to Mr Tung, not once, not twice, but three times ... that I think the best option for me would be keeping me in my current post. I feel that there are many suitable candidates for the post within the civil service.”
He said there was a need for someone to deal with the aftermath of the financial crisis, “but you know it's Mr Tung's decision. I am only a civil servant and my future has to be decided by the civil service system”.
Mr Tung told legislators last week that a decision on the successor would be made this week. Banker and Executive Councillor Antony Leung Kam-chung is seen as the likely Financial Secretary should Mr Tsang be promoted.
Mr Tsang would not be drawn on a possible successor to himself, saying only that the person in that post should be “diligent, dedicated, eager to learn and lead a clean life”. On the 1997 financial crisis, Mr Tsang said he had not wanted to act but Monetary Authority chief executive Joseph Yam Chi-kwong and Rafael Hui Si-yan, then Secretary for Financial Services, had pushed him to do so.
“I was forced to make up my mind. I flew to Istanbul to launch an inaugural flight, hoping the problem would have gone away when I returned ... but the situation worsened”. He had to act then with few preparations. “I hope it will never happen again,” he said.
Mr Tsang, who spent more than an hour with the youngsters, also gave insights into his personal life.
He said his childhood had not been easy: “My mother had to make nylon bags to get extra money. I had to teach at night schools during my studies to support my tuition fees.”
While Mr Tsang runs the SAR's finances, his wife, Selina, runs the home finances, he says. “My wife is very good at home financing and I am never involved in it.”
To relax, Mr Tsang finds “watching TV cartoons, old Chinese and Western movies, and spending 10 minutes every morning in church are all better than practising tai-chi”.
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