Raymond Tam; Reformation Man
On the topic of the looming electoral reform consultation, our secretary for constitutional and mainland affairs has never quite seemed able to shake off this thorny subject in his 26 long years in public service. Back when he joined in 1987, Raymond Tam Chi-yuen's first posting was to the colonial administration's survey office, whose role was to canvass public views on whether to introduce direct balloting for the 1988 Legislative Council election. Fast-forward to 2003, and Tam was moved from the Financial Secretary's Office to the then constitutional affairs bureau - centre stage of political reform - after his boss Antony Leung Kam-chung stepped down as financial secretary amid a car-tax scandal. Tam rose through the ranks to become undersecretary in 2008 and bureau chief in 2011, when the controversial and demanding task of reform came up again.
Tam's rich experience in the field is expected to have helped prepare him mentally, at the very least, for the stressful job. What a tough life indeed.
In the age of social media, Facebook has become the channel of choice in vying for support and publicity, and the government is no exception. At the Development Bureau, a contract-based officer has been hired just to manage its Facebook page. However, the endeavour has turned out to be more laughable than laudable, with its amateur graphics and boring updates. It may be why the Home Affairs Bureau will not be jumping on the bandwagon, according to an official familiar with the situation.
"We have contemplated whether the bureau should open a Facebook page, but we ended up ditching the idea as other government-run Facebook pages were not really popular," the person said.
Electoral reform could be a different ball game, however. It is understood that the government plans to make use of the social networking site to collect views during a public consultation beginning next month. To help this Facebook engagement work, All Around Town advises officials to check out other government pages to avoid repeating the same mistakes.
Sometimes the battle zone that is Wednesday's Legco meeting moves outside the chamber, even when the issue isn't all that earth-shaking. Gary Fan Kwok-wai of the NeoDemocrats was affronted when he found fellow lawmaker Ann Chiang Lai-wan, of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, had spread rumours to reporters that he was a smoker.
"I never smoke. Chiang is accusing me without evidence," Fan declared in front of cameras yesterday, even backing up his assertion with a media release - normally associated with matters of public interest.
Chiang - known for her loud Legco voice - claimed she had a credible source. "[Federation of Trade Unions lawmaker] Chan Yuen-han's assistant once saw Fan smoke in the Legco gym," Chiang said. The row may be public, but does anyone care?
