As Anson Chan Fang On-sang sat in a swank administrative office at the then Commerce and Industry Department in 1967, a 16-year-old student was spending a more lonely time in Stanley Prison. He was Tsang Tak-sing, found guilty of distributing inflammatory pamphlets.
This blunt difference in accommodation may not have occurred to Mrs Chan. It is a stark difference that has certainly been prodding my mind since the new secretary for home affairs was appointed in July.
After much campaigning, Mrs Chan was elected in a by-election to the Legislative Council on December 2. On December 5, she was sworn into the chamber where she once sat as a government official under both the British and SAR administrations. In a Legislative Council debate, Mr Tsang accused Mrs Anson of being a 'sudden democrat' who 'suddenly cares about people's livelihood'.
Mrs Chan said she took this as a personal attack.
The angry clash came about when Mrs Chan said the government should have done more to help people help themselves. 'Democracy and people's livelihood cannot be separated and without democracy there would not be justice and underprivileged groups would not receive the care they should get,' she said.