Starry-eyed over DAB's new chief
It is no doubt refreshing to have a woman lead the city's largest political party.
Still, I was intrigued by my paper's profile of Starry Lee Wai-king on her selection as chairwoman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong - especially her various attributes described by public figures who know her.
The Liberal Party's Ho Hin-ming said Lee was "very voluble and hard-working".
Felix Fong Wo, a founding member of the DAB and vice-chairman of the party's senate, said she was "presentable and had potential".
DAB heavyweight and Legislative Council President Tsang Yok-sing called her "a young lady with good qualities".
Fellow DAB lawmaker Gary Chan Hak-kan describes her thus: "Lee is good at communicating with others and maintaining good relations with the younger as well as the older members of the party.
"Inside Legco, she is also widely accepted by colleagues from other parties. And so far, I have not heard anyone - even from rival parties - say anything bad about her."
Humm, nothing bad to say about her … I wonder why? Could it be that she hasn't done anything very memorable since becoming a district councillor in 1999?
Chan adds: "Starry is gentle and speaks softly, never shouts. But don't mistake this for weakness. She is tough and can always put forward her views forcefully with good reasoning skills."
A senior DAB member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, is more honest. He said it would be difficult for Lee to rise to the same prominence as her predecessors like Tsang.
Hard-working, presentable, gentle, a lady with potential and good qualities - sounds a bit like praise you would read in an appraisal for a junior member of staff.
Lee does have a talent for staying out of trouble - Article 23, national and moral education, universal suffrage, the third airport runway, budget deficit projections. What are her positions on those? Who knows?
Wait a minute. In fact, I don't even know what her take is on air pollution. Is she for or against?
As the DAB is the dominant party in the Legislative Council, we are in good hands.
