Inside track
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.
Now, the Falun Gong affair has seen Mrs Ip inflict equally needless damage on the SAR's international reputation. The glee with which she rushed to denounce the cult as 'devious' and 'fanatical', often being quicker to jump into the fray than Mr Tung, has already prompted US publications to suggest foreign countries should no longer treat Hong Kong as distinct from other parts of China for trading and other purposes.
It all adds up to a powerful case for moving Mrs Ip to a post where she could focus on administrative skills rather than rhetoric.
Chief Secretary for Administration Donald Tsang Yam-kuen would surely love to do so. After all, he spent the first day in his new job earlier this month having to explain that Mrs Ip had not meant what she said when she declared that top officials are not neutral and have their own political stance.
Nor, if rumours in government circles are to be believed, is Mr Tung impressed by her often 'clumsy' displays of patriotism.
To move Mrs Ip right now would be difficult, as it would be seen as a tacit admission the Government had got it wrong over the Falun Gong issue. But if the situation calms down and pressure from Beijing to ban the cult diminishes, a supposedly routine transfer as part of a more general government reshuffle to replace retiring officials later this year should not be ruled out.
Perhaps Mrs Ip could be packed off to parade her patriotism as Secretary for Home Affairs, a bureau where she has worked in the past and which Mr Tung wants to take on the task of promoting Chinese culture. Wherever she went, her transfer could only be good news for Hong Kong.
Danny Gittings is the Post's Editorial Pages Editor
