HK loses an honest man

AS the late Stephen Cheong Kam-chuen's political colleagues join his many other friends, his family and business associates for his funeral today, they may reflect on the gap his death has left at the core of the Liberal Party at this early stage in its development. Although his official position as Convenor of its Organisation Working Group would have disappeared on June 26, when the party holds its first internal elections, his key role on the administrative side of party affairs will have to be filled, as will his Legislative Council seat.

But busy and committed as he was, Mr Cheong's once bright political star had been waning. Already under the conservative regime of Lord Wilson he had failed to live up to his early promise. He had not been appointed to the Executive Council alongside political allies such as Mr Allen Lee Peng-fei and Mrs Selina Chow Liang Shuk-yee.

And even before his January 1992 speech warning of anarchy unless the ''destabilising effects caused by the United Democrats'' were rectified, he had come to be regarded as too direct to make it to the top in the political arena. After that, undoubtedly on sound advice, he took a lower profile.

Nonetheless, the Liberal Party has lost a tireless political organiser, and a man of drive and ideas. On a personal level, legislators of all factions and many outside politics will miss a loyal friend. His honesty and readiness to offer praise and encouragement, irrespective of political affiliation, will long be missed.