City Beat | Donald Tsang’s admission shows why Hong Kong’s housing supply remains a key issue for the next leader

The talk of the town over the past week was the surprising, yet not so unexpected, result of the Legislative Council elections, and the implications for Hong Kong’s future. But former chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen also raised eyebrows by giving an exclusive interview to one of the city’s free newspapers, AM 730.

It was Tsang’s first one-on-one media session since he retired from top office four years ago. He has kept a conspicuously low profile since the city’s anti-graft agency started to investigate allegations about favours he was said to have accepted from his tycoon friends, which eventually landed him in court facing two charges of misconduct in public office.

The timing of the interview has naturally triggered plenty of speculation as it was published days after the Legco vote, and just ahead of another hearing next month. The actual trial is set to open next January.

Understandably, with the court battle looming, Tsang sees the need to set the record straight on his four decades in public service, including seven years as the city’s leader. In this regard, his admission in the interview that “I could have done better” in developing more land for housing was the most eye-catching part. It serves as a timely reminder to whoever wants the top job of the importance of this pressing issue.

One of Tsang’s most criticised policies was the halting of subsidised housing construction and suspension of government land auctions, plus his failure to ensure land supply. His successor, Leung Chun-ying, subsequently turned that policy around and criticised Tsang’s administration for not doing enough to provide affordable housing.

But four years later, Leung’s administration also has to admit that land supply remains the biggest headache in solving the housing issue.

It’s an open secret that Leung and Tsang did not see eye to eye on many issues. Now the time has come for the city to pick a new leader again, and Tsang’s interview is definitely a wake-up call for potential candidates that housing remains a critical problem for the next government, apart from sensitive political issues such as the spreading of pro-independence ideas.