When former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa decided in 2000 to go ahead with the introduction of an accountability system for principal officials, it marked the beginning of the end of his teaming with Anson Chan Fang On-sang.
Recollecting the landmark change that prompted her to quit the government in 2001, Mrs Chan said in an interview with the South China Morning Post last year: 'If you are not able to influence the course of events, particularly events you disagree with strongly, you must make your choice.'
More than six years after its inauguration in 2002, the political appointee system has entered a new phase after the naming last week of two more tiers of political appointees.
But Mrs Chan is unmoved, saying this week that she remained unconvinced about its merits, adding that the latest appointments had heightened her long-held fears about the damaging impact of the political appointee system on good governance.
'The system is inherently deficient. Instead of fixing it after a full review, the government refused to do so and blatantly claimed it has worked well,' she said. 'The chief executive has hand-picked another batch of appointees who are loyal and supportive of his governing philosophy. I don't know in what ways our governance has and will be strengthened.'
With universal suffrage for the chief executive still a long way off, Mrs Chan said enlarging the fleet of like-minded appointees by Donald Tsang Yam-kuen would further expand the policymaking power of the government at the expense of proper checks and balances.