Two former senior government officials have been dominating the headlines. Ex-chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang and former security chief Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee have caused quite a stir with their comments on the need to promote democracy in Hong Kong.
I am pleased to see these two former principal officials supporting democracy: it's such a rare event. When they were in power, not too long ago, they gave no indication that they were in favour of democratic political reforms. Some retired administrative officers have criticised Mrs Chan for speaking out, saying it goes against the code of behaviour for retired senior officials. Others said it was perfectly acceptable.
These developments remind me of what happened to another retired senior official, Elizabeth Wong Chien Chi-lien. She was secretary for health and welfare when she retired in 1994. The following year, she won a Legislative Council election in one of the nine new functional constituencies created by the last British colonial governor, Chris Patten.
In 1996, Mrs Wong became a founder member of The Frontier, a group dedicated to fighting for democracy, human rights and the rule of law. The response from the establishment was as swift as it was brutal: Mrs Wong and her family were frozen out by the establishment.
Apparently, the rich and the powerful felt that by joining a pro-democracy organisation, Mrs Wong had overstepped the line and had to be punished. That harsh treatment was also a warning to other senior civil servants. Should Mrs Chan decide to become more active in fighting for democracy, the establishment may marginalise her in the same, nasty way.
As for Mrs Ip's return to the Hong Kong scene, it was played up by the news media: some predicted enthusiastically that she would stand for direct election to Legco in 2008, and in the chief executive election in 2012. The phenomenon of Mrs Chan and Mrs Ip shows that some people in the news media regard ex-senior government officials as more suitable to play a leading political role than members of political parties, although they have neither fought nor won any elections.