IT WOULD probably be the most popular government reshuffle in Hong Kong's history. 'Red' Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee has now been parading her increasingly patriotic credentials as Secretary for Security for close to three years.
That means she is fast reaching the point where she will have been in the job long enough for it to be normal government practice for her to be transferred to a new post. Indeed, the possibility of moving her has already been tentatively floated in government circles.
By the end of this year, she will have been in the security portfolio for as long as her predecessor, Peter Lai Hing-ling. Although he only stepped down because he decided to quit in 1998, there are countless examples of policy secretaries being reshuffled after only a short time in a job.
Until recently, it was almost an article of faith in Government that top officials should move to a new post every three to four years, as they need to gain wider experience. That is certainly true of Mrs Ip, who was previously Director of Immigration, and has never held any top post outside the security field.
And although the past practice of periodic transfers has begun to wane in recent years, with the moves towards a more ministerial-like system and Tung Chee-hwa's dislike of frequent changes, there is every reason to argue it should still apply in Mrs Ip's case.
Recent events have repeatedly shown that, for all her many administrative skills, Mrs Ip has an unnecessarily confrontational style that makes her particularly ill-suited to hold such a sensitive portfolio as security.
Her outspoken defence of the Public Order Ordinance, after it was used to arrest students and other protesters at a right-of-abode rally last year, only served to stoke more opposition to the controversial law restricting such protests.