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Just who is the Chief Executive? It is becoming increasingly difficult to know as conflicting details emerge of his identity.

 Is it Tung Chee-hwa who was born on July 7, 1937? Or is it Tung Chi-hwa born on May 29, 1937?  Confusion over the English spelling of his name arose yesterday, after it was revealed earlier in the year that Mr Tung used his lunar birthday for official documents rather than the Western date.

 A Malaysian immigration officer displayed Mr Tung's SAR passport, with the registration number showing it was the first issued, on his arrival in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.

 It showed the spelling of his name as 'Chi', rather than the 'Chee' which he has long used.

 A spokesman from the Chief Executive's Office tried to explain the difference. 'His ID card has both 'Chi' and 'Chee',' she said.

 'In all official correspondence he uses 'Chee',' she said.

 But the spokesman was unable to explain why the ID card differed from most, which have just one name.

 In Cantonese, the words can have different meanings. 'Chee' means build and his name Chee-hwa can mean 'building China'. 'Chi' could mean 'will' or 'wisdom'.

 The Immigration Department denied giving preferential treatment to Mr Tung, who received an SAR passport numbered 00000001. It was stamped as being issued on July 1 when the department's offices were closed.

 Yet a spokesman said: 'Mr Tung was among those eligible for priority treatment.'  They included permanent residents without a travel document.

 The spokesman was unaware Mr Tung held a Chinese diplomatic passport after surrendering his British document.

 The spokesman said some officials had worked on July 1 to prepare SAR passports for those in urgent need who received them when offices re-opened on July 3.

 Before the handover a senior immigration official disclosed plans to give the Chief Executive the No 1 passport.

 Mr Tung appears to have resisted legislators' calls to change the birthday recorded on his ID card.

 He celebrates two birthdays every year. The May 29 Chinese lunar date shown on his identity document was also used for his SAR passport rather than the Western date of July 7.

 Mr Tung has made no attempt to correct the error, which arose when he gave Hong Kong authorities his birthday upon arriving as a refugee from Shanghai in 1949.



Chief's choice of spellings creates confusion by any other name