Patricia Chu Yeung Pak-yu refused to say yesterday whether she would serve a second term after her first as Equal Opportunities Commissioner ends on Wednesday. She also would not comment on who her successor might be.
Mrs Chu, who was deputy director of the Social Welfare Department before she retired in 2002, was appointed last December after then chairman Michael Wong Kin-chow resigned amid controversy over his sacking of operations director Patrick Yu Chung-yin.
Mr Wong, a retired Court of Appeal judge, was later accused of receiving gifts from a tycoon - who was then his daughter's boyfriend - before he retired from the bench.
Previous commission chiefs have been given three-year terms but Mrs Chu, 58, was given only one year.
As she was a retired civil servant, her appointment also sparked controversy because many saw it as an attempt to affect the independence of the anti-bias watchdog, which had forced the government to act against discrimination.
Mrs Chu said the next leader's top priority would be to consider recommendations by an independent panel investigating a series of events undermining the confidence of the statutory body, including the incidents leading up to Mr Wong's departure. The panel's report is expected in February.
