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Regina Ip with David Akers-Jones, who supported Leung Chun-ying in 2012. Photo: Felix Wong

Former Hong Kong No 2 is first big gun to support Regina Ip for top job

As heavyweights hold back and await a signal from Beijing, David Akers-Jones says he will attend likely launch rally next week

Former chief secretary David Akers-Jones has become the first political heavyweight to indicate his support for New People’s Party chairwoman Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee’s bid for Hong Kong’s top job.

Akers-Jones, 89, who backed Leung Chun-ying in the 2012 chief executive election, said in an exclusive interview with the Post on Thursday that he had accepted Ip’s invitation to attend a rally next Thursday, when she is expected to announce her candidacy.

He is among the few VIPs who have committed to showing up at Ip’s gathering at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai, while most pro-Beijing parties are shunning it.

They consider it premature to endorse anyone because the two most hotly tipped contenders – incumbent Leung and Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah – have yet to declare their bids, and Beijing has not signalled its preference yet.
Executive councillor and lawmaker Ip, a former security minister, will be the second person to formally announce a serious candidacy, after retired judge Woo Kwok-hing.

Ip has been actively lobbying in the lead up to the announcement. On Friday, she met pro-establishment teachers group, Education Convergence, to discuss education issues.

Former chief secretary David Akers-Jones. Photo: David Wong
Akers-Jones said he would support her in the election next March. Asked if he would go on stage at the event to underline his endorsement for Ip next week, he replied: “I will speak if I’m asked to.”

Since his retirement in 1987, the former No 2 official has remained active in the business sector, having served on the boards of several companies such as Hysan Development.

In November 2011, when he spoke at Leung’s election rally, Akers-Jones rejected accusations that Leung was to blame for the ill-fated target of building 85,000 flats a year under Tung Chee-hwa’s administration as a cabinet adviser. That target was scrapped after a slump in property prices.

Akers-Jones told the Post last year that Leung was “familiar with the problems of Hong Kong”, but “doesn’t have the art of making or causing people to love him”.

Ip has so far refrained from revealing more details of her leadership bid, only describing herself as a “likely candidate” when asked of her plans on Wednesday.

She will have another guest in Lan Kwai Fong Group chairman Allan Zeman, who told the Post that he would show up next week “out of respect” for the lengthy public service Ip had done for Hong Kong. “I’ll see what she has to say,” he said, without committing his support.

Former Legislative Council president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing said he had not made up his mind whether to accept Ip’s invitation.

“I also told Mrs Ip that I should not be regarded as supporting her candidacy even if I would attend her event,” he said.

As to whether he would run himself, Tsang said his position remained unchanged – that he would consider it if his participation would facilitate “genuine competition”.

Ambrose Lee Siu-kwong, Ip’s former subordinate, successor as security chief and now a deputy to the National People’s Congress, declined to say if he would attend the rally.

Core members of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong will not attend Ip’s rally. Business and Professionals Alliance vice-chairman Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung said the party had not decided whether to send representatives.

Ip’s last column with the Post will be published on Sunday, in which she is expected to provide more details of her candidacy.

Additional reporting by Ng Kang-chung

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Akers-Jones the first big gun to back Ip for city’s top job
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