Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation chairman Michael Tien Puk-sun has had a change of heart on potential candidates for the post of chief executive of the body, saying they should be judged on ability rather than background.
Mr Tien made the remarks as pressure mounted on chief executive Yeung Kai-yin to quit following the controversy over extra payments made to a West Rail contractor. His contract expires next year.
Mr Tien said on a radio programme that he would choose his senior management team based on talent.
'For the top posts, including the chief executive, I think we should not judge the candidates by their background, either civil servants or non-civil servants,' Mr Tien said.
On Friday he told the Post that he would prefer a non-civil servant to succeed Mr Yeung because the KCRC has been criticised as a 'clubhouse' for retired civil servants.
But yesterday he said: 'The term of clubhouse is negative . . . Are retired civil servants necessarily bad?'