Property market analyst turned executive councillor Franklin Lam Fan-keung describes himself as a 'factual guy'. He believes his proposals to boost the supply of housing, malls and hospitals to solve social and economic problems are justified by statistics. But when it comes to political issues like universal suffrage, the new government adviser says he has 'no views' and has 'not even opened the first chapter' on the topic.
Lam, 51, was managing director at UBS Global Asset Management until last year and was often interviewed by business reporters. But as he admitted to the South China Morning Post yesterday, he is an unknown to most of the public.
'I'm not a politician. I'm not a C.Y. Leung supporter. The corporate I represent is a HK$2 company that's an NGO,' Lam said, referring to the policy research organisation HKGolden50 that he set up last year.
Lam said he was not a close friend of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and assumed it was his ability as an analyst - and his think-tank's proposals - that caught Leung's eye.
He has proposed developing Tung Chung as a global hub for services, including a mega mall, eight hotels, a medical centre and office hub to deal with the demand generated by the influx of mainland tourists.
'People should not think mainlanders are 'locusts' devouring our way of life. We should tap into the opportunity to create more jobs for the post-80s generation and new immigrants,' he said.
But on other questions that Hongkongers care about, such as universal suffrage and political reform, Lam struggled to give an answer.
