Is our retiring chief executive stupid or does he just not care?
I have seen Donald Tsang Yam-kuen in person talking about air pollution and financial reform with an impressive command of facts and statistics. I can assure you that he is not George W. Bush-stupid, and I would even go so far as to call him almost Clinton-like smart.
So what were Tsang and his aides thinking when he stayed in a presidential suite at a hotel that charges US$6,900 a night, during an official trip to Brazil this month?
A spokesman for Tsang said there were no rules dictating what type of accommodation the chief executive could stay in during official trips.
He has it exactly right. There are no rules, only discretion.
Staying in top hotels and flying first class are perks of the job. The mayors of rich cities do indeed have their privileges, and it would reflect badly on Hong Kong if Tsang and his aides ate at McDonald's and had to travel in dirty taxis across Brasilia. I am not so bothered by the so-called Luxurygate in which Tsang was caught hobnobbing with second-tier tycoons.