The head of the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) will announce today whether he will stay on as Executive Council convenor - and last night hinted he will not give up the role.
Since being named to the Exco post two weeks ago, Lam Woon-kwong has faced pressure from some quarters to give up one of the jobs on the grounds they create a conflict of interest. But after most members of the EOC gave him their backing at a meeting yesterday, he appeared to lean towards keeping both jobs.
'I have heard the opinions from both sides,' Lam said after the special two-hour meeting. 'Both sides of the argument are important to consider. But if no conflict is likely to arise, perhaps it [keeping both jobs] is worth a try.'
He said sitting on the government's top advisory body would not contradict the Paris Principle, a set of international rules for human-rights organisations under which the EOC operates.
The principle states that representatives of government departments should only join institutions like the EOC in an advisory capacity. But as an advisory body itself, Exco is not considered a government department.
Only two of the 15 EOC members at the meeting objected to Lam's Exco job, according to Susanna Chiu Lai-kuen, convenor of the EOC's administrative and financial committee. No formal vote was taken.
'Most of us think there is no material conflict involving the two positions, especially since Exco is not an executive body. All important decisions of the EOC are decided by all the members, rather than the chairman alone,' Chiu said.