Section 31 of the Chief Executive Election Ordinance says that the winning candidate chosen by the Election Committee must 'publicly make a statutory declaration to the effect that he is not a member of any political party' within seven working days.
This is because the chief executive is meant to be above politics. He should not favour any political parties over others.
This is clearly not the case. In the recent appointments of undersecretaries and political assistants, no one connected to the pan-democratic camp was chosen, but a vice-chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, Greg So Kam-leung, was selected to be a vice-minister. Of course, Mr So had to discontinue his party affiliation to take the job, since the government as a whole, like the chief executive, is not meant to engage in partisan activities.
As Mr So begins his new job of undersecretary for commerce and economic development, another political appointee is leaving the government.
Gary Chan Hak-kan has served as special assistant to Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen for the past 21/2 years. Mr Chan, the first DAB member appointed by the government, said the object of the appointment system was to train political talent.
The administration itself has said as much. But, if the chief executive is meant to be above partisan politics, one wonders why he is only grooming people from certain parties by appointing them to district councils or advisory bodies, and not those from the pan-democratic camp.
The record is clear. In 1999, after the special administrative region's first district council elections, then chief executive Tung Chee-hwa revived appointments to district bodies. He appointed 100 members, 32 of whom were members of political parties. The parties involved were the Liberal Party, the DAB and the Hong Kong Progressive Alliance. No members of pro-democracy parties were appointed.
