NEVER MIND THE pitiful dressing-downs, mea culpa policy addresses and valedictory press conferences: the Tung Chee-hwa era officially drew to a close when a letter from his wife, Betty Tung Chiu Hung-ping, arrived at charities and performing arts companies across Hong Kong last week.
In it Mrs Tung, citing the fact that she was no longer the Chief Executive's wife, wrote of her decision to relinquish the largely ceremonial positions she'd acquired when her husband came to power eight years ago. While a mere formality, it signified the dawn of Hong Kong's post-Betty age: there will be no more pictures of the bubbly former first lady saluting marching Girl Guides, planting trees with soldiers from the PLA, or - and this will be more familiar to those with a keen eye for farce - giving voice to any concern that took her fancy.
Such unrestrained enthusiasm in speaking her mind was evident - probably for the very last time - when Next Magazine gave her the platform last week to give a last hurrah to her beleaguered husband. Pictured as embittered yet vocally defiant to the very last, she was quoted as comparing her man to Olympic medallists, and that detractors 'can't grind us down'.
While far from outright negative, the piece depicted Mrs Tung as a raving, manic preacher on a desperate bid to renegotiate her own repute as she exits stage left. But how did it come to this for someone seen as comparatively low-profile before the handover?
Mrs Tung has unquestionably redefined the role of a Hong Kong leader's spouse. Far from playing the subdued consort - an image fostered by her predecessors during the colonial era - Mrs Tung has proven the former chef executive's most gallant defender. She has also emphasised many times her readiness to become Hong Kong's matriarch, loudly instructing her astonished subjects not to 'complain, complain, complain' and, during the Sars outbreak, to 'wash your hands, wash your hands, and wash your hands'.
It will be useful to compare representations of Mrs Tung with the mild adulation Selina Tsang Pow Siu-mei, wife of acting Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, has received as she settles into the role as the acting first lady. Well known for avoiding the public glare - so much so that several newspapers recently confused her with Home Affairs Department director Pamela Tan Kam Mei-wah - Mrs Tsang was spared an early media trial as she meekly deflected questions about her husband's political ambitions. Her economical response that she will support her husband 'anytime, anywhere' contrasting with her predecessor's over-expressive candour.
