Forget for a moment the extraordinary, but not uncommon, arrogance of the bureaucracy as illustrated by the Hong Kong Institute of Education affair. Forget for a moment wondering whether a person apparently as obsessed with power as Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fun is the appropriate person to run the Independent Commission Against Corruption, which is supposed to put principles before power. Now, stop to consider the issue of where political horse-trading ends and corruption begins.
Almost the first act of Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen following his election - by one in 10,000 Hongkongers - was to appoint Liberal Party leader James Tien Pei-chun to head the Hong Kong Tourism Board. It was widely reported that the replacement of one Liberal party legislator, Selina Chow Liang Shuk-yee, by another was related to the policy and voting behaviour of Mr Tien and his party.
Personally, I have no idea whether these reports were true. But the fact is that they have been made and, as far as I am aware, not denied. In any event, it is surprising to a lay observer that Mr Tien was appointed, given both the number of hats he already wears and his lack of experience with the major industries in the tourism sector.
But Mr Tsang seems not to care very much about whether public offices should be handed out as political rewards or to satisfy the vanity of pro-government politicians. The Tourism Board is a publicly funded body that is supposed to promote an industry which affects all Hongkongers. It should not be considered a political gift.
The appointment is all too typical of Hong Kong's 'small-circle' politics and the handing out of jobs to senior ex-bureaucrats and members of prominent families. It was similarly typical in the row over the management of the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation when its chairman, Michael Tien Puk-sun - brother of James - was able to prevail over professional managers. Mr Tien behaved like an executive chairman or the owner of a family fiefdom rather than as the non-executive chairman of a company owned by Hongkongers. Yet Mr Tsang allowed him to prevail.
It is perhaps no coincidence, either, that yet another scion of a famous and very rich family should be at the centre of a row in which the executive and bureaucracy seek to dictate policies as well as use a web of board appointees and assorted shoe-shiners to get its way regardless. I personally have no view on whether the HKIEd should be merged with Chinese University. But the issue was worthy of a public airing from which Arthur Li Kwok-cheung - as former chancellor of the university - would have done well to distance himself.
Following the election, Mr Tsang acknowledged that officialdom was often remote from public concerns, and promised to try to rectify this. That was an admirable sentiment. He may not be able to get very far in persuading Beijing to allow a faster extension of the franchise - even assuming he actually wants that.