Eddie Ng snapped using phone in Legco Q&A session
The education minister came under fire online after a picture of him appearing to check the prices on his iPhone during the chief executive's question-and-answer session in the Legislative Council was circulated online.
Eddie Ng Hak-kim may not play the stock market these days, but he was spotted yesterday taking a keen interest in share price fluctuations.
The education minister came under fire online after a picture of him appearing to check the prices on his iPhone during the chief executive's question-and-answer session in the Legislative Council was circulated online.
The picture was snapped at 3.33pm, three minutes after the session started, by Anson Wong Hin-wai, an assistant to radical lawmaker "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung who was sitting a few rows behind.
Before long the picture - showing Ng with his eyes on the screen and his finger ready to scroll down for more - had been picked up by online media and the minister was attracting criticism from internet users such as "not doing his job" and "only caring about making money".
The screen was said to look like the "my stocks" page of financial news and information service Bloomberg.
Through a spokesman, Ng later admitted flipping through financial news and information but noted that "I was there 15 minutes early".
"However, Mr Ng said he hadn't bought or sold stocks for a few years now, and he had definitely not done so since he took office," the spokesman said.
This was not the first time a government official had been caught playing with his phone during a meeting.
Back in 2003, secretary for education and manpower Arthur Li Kwok-cheung was spotted playing online game on his personal digital assistant during a Legco meeting.
He faced questions about his integrity and calls for his resignation by critics who said the act was disrespectful.
