Legco chief warns government of falling into trap over Paul Chan affair

Legislative Council president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing warned the government on Wednesday that it risked facing the “Tacitus Trap” over its handling of the political scandal involving Secretary for Development Paul Chan Mo-po.

The term “Tacitus Trap” comes from the Roman historian Publius Gornelius Tacitus (56-117 AD), who argued that neither good nor bad policies would please people if they resent their government. This was later called the ‘‘Tacitus Trap” by scholars. Tsang made the comments after Chan decided not to disclose any more details of his conflict-of-interest row involving the ownership of farmland in Kwu Tung North.

Chan is refusing to elaborate on how his once-bankrupt brother-in-law acquired the money to buy the farmland from his wife on Tuesday, saying it was a “personal matter”.

Tsang said on a RTHK radio programme people had higher expectations of government officials and expected them to be “whiter than white”. “They should draw a better line between their privacy and public interest,” he said. Tsang said that if the government lost further credibility it risked falling into the “Tacitus Trap”.

“[If this was to occur], whatever it said would be considered lies, whatever it does would be seen as bad acts,” he ventured.

Discussing Paul Chan’s handling of the affair, Tsang said: “He should come clean and apologise if he had unresolved conflicts of interests, or people might have an impression of him responding in a piecemeal manner.”