OpinionExpect scrutiny when swimming in clear waters

There is a Chinese saying, "there are no fish when the water is too clear", so what happens when this meets demands for a government that is "whiter than white"?

It is a question that does not always get an agreeable answer in today's Hong Kong. The public expects its officials and their families to be squeaky clean and free from any doubts about conflicts of interest, yet pure water drives away fish and begs the question: Can the government find talented people who are willing to sacrifice all their privacy?

So, like it or not, Development Bureau chief Paul Chan Mo-po is to stay. And he will be leading the new town development project in the New Territories where his wife's family owns a piece of farm land, despite the resignation of his political assistant, who failed to declare his family's ownership of land in the same area.

In another development, former Executive Council member Franklin Lam Fan-keung chose to quit even after the city's graft-buster dropped his case of alleged misconduct in public office. Lam, who was personally invited by Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying to join the top advisory body, complained in his resignation statement that his family had been harassed in past months.

In an apparent effort to dismiss speculation that the government was considering swapping his position with that of Commerce and Economic Development Secretary Greg So Kam-leung to avoid a conflict of interest, Chan has so far attended four Legislative Council public hearings on the new town project.

He did, however, say his handling of the controversy was "clumsy".