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Hong Kong's Iron Lady
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ANSON CHAN FANG ON-SANG, after 38 years in public service, retired from Hong Kong's second top post at the end of last week.
The 61-year-old Chan, then the chief secretary for administration of the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), last week had a hectic schedule ahead of her retirement, attending her final meetings at the government and the Legislative Council, as well as a number of parties sponsored by various organizations and a farewell dinner hosted by Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa.
Her successor Donald Tsang Yam-Kuen, then financial secretary, said Chan, whose career has spanned both British rule and the territory's return to China, had made a professional contribution to the civil service and society.
Chan, seen as a pillar of stability after Britain returned Hong Kong to China in mid-1997, announced in January that she was stepping down ahead of her June 2002 retirement date on personal reason.
Polls have shown Chan was much more popular than the chief executive. When the Legislative Council, Hong Kong's law-making body, narrowly struck down the proposal for a motion of thanks to Chan in March, it drew a barrage of angry newspaper editorials, which slammed the legislators for being just plain mean.
Known for her staunch defence of Hong Kong's freedoms and institutions under the “one country, two systems" concept, Chan on April 19 delivered a parting shot in her last major speech before retirement, urging colleagues not to be afraid to speak up.
“Currying favour... and shoe-shining will not get you very far," Hong Kong's “Iron Lady" said in her last major public speech as head of the 185,000-strong civil service.
Chan, who often flashed her hallmark radiant smile and at one point even broke out into poetry, won a standing ovation from an audience of more than 1,000 business people.
Hailed as the “conscience of Hong Kong", Chan is well-chronicled for her stoic defence of freedoms in the territory.
Chan commented that the Central Government is happy to let Hong Kong “make its own way within our high degree of autonomy".
Although rumours were rife that Chan had been often at odds with Tung, the chief executive for a long time publicly supported Chan, calling her a “loyal civil servant".
The two worked closely together when Tung was a member of the executive council of Chris Patten, Hong Kong's last British governor, and Tung considered her a personal friend. Chan even christened one of his ships when it was launched in 1995.
In 1962, Anson Chan joined the civil service as a cadet, where she demonstrated a readiness to take on vested interests. As Secretary for Economic Services from 1987 to 1993, she decided early on that the telecom sector should be opened for competition, despite fierce opposition from Britain's Cable & Wireless, which had a monopoly through its Hong Kong Telecom affiliate.
Chan battled with British aviation authorities and British Airways PLC to win a fair share of the London-Hong Kong traffic for the territory's big carrier, Cathay Pacific Airways. “She was very tough in dealing with the UK," recalls Elizabeth M Bosher, former director of the Airport Authority.
Chan has also sparred with Cathay Pacific, which resisted giving routes to a fledgling carrier, Air Hong Kong. In addition, she opened up development of container ports to new players. That effort gave her the chance to hobnob with key business leaders, including property tycoon Li Ka-shing.
Along the way, Chan kept pushing women's rights. In 1976, she and other women officials established the Association of Female Senior Government Officers.
At that time, men employees received housing perks, medical benefits, and education allowances amounting to as much as 66 per cent of their take-home pay. Women got only a salary. Chan chaired the group from 1978 to 1981 — and in her cool but determined style successfully lobbied top policymakers to back parity.
When Patten named her chief secretary in 1993, Chan redefined the job. She was the first Chinese, and the first woman, to hold the post after 150 years of British incumbents and was seen as a symbol of continuity as she stayed in her job after the handover.
“Because she's Chinese, she can relate so much better," says Vincent Cheng, executive director of Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corp.
Chan has opened Victoria House, her official residence, to numerous charity functions — and for the first time in history Victoria House has routinely served Chinese food. Chan's winning smile has won her the nickname “Say Man" — after a mah-jongg tile whose markings resemble a big grin.
Chan, who was born in Shanghai in 1940, comes from a big and wealthy family of former refugees.
Her grandfather Fang Zhenwu, a Kuomintang general, is regarded as a war hero who fought the Japanese invaders.
Her uncle, Harry Fang, is a well-known Hong Kong doctor who helped treat Deng Xiaoping's eldest son Pufang, crippled during the Cultural Revolution.
Chan's father was a textile manufacturer, and her mother a well-known painter. Her brother David runs the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine.
In 1948 Chan's father moved the family to Hong Kong, where she received her education. She graduated from the University of Hong Kong with a BA(Hons) in English and English Literature.
Chan is married to Chan Tai-wing, a consultant of Caltex Oil (HK) Limited. They have a daughter, a son and three grandchildren.(SD-Agencies)
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