Can Regina Ip come back from the brink to claim Hong Kong’s top job?
Cast into political wilderness after 2003 Article 23 protest, pro-Beijing stalwart may be looking to capitalise on new-found popularity with chief executive run
After a long career in public service that has seen her popularity wax and wane, former security minister Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee is a pro-establishment candidate the Hong Kong public knows well.
It is not the first time she has expressed interest in the position. In 2012, she made an unsuccessful bid in which she picked up dozens ofnominations after support for early favourite Henry Tang Ying-yen began to melt away following a series of scandals. But in the end she dropped out of the race after she was not able to collect the required 150 nominations required to enter the race.
Ip leads the New People’s Party, and is one of only a handful of politicians who is both a member of the Legislative Council and the Executive Council – the chief executive’s group of advisers and core policy-making body.
Despite lagging behind in polls among the leading hopefuls for the city’s top job, she has been unswayed by recent announcements by rivals of their own intentions to run. She revealed she was considering a pitch after retired judge Woo Kwok-hing became the first candidate to officially throw his hat in the ring, and has said she welcomes competition from Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor after the latter disclosed she would “reconsider” a possible bid of her own following Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying’s decision not to seek re-election.
She was equally unswayed by Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah’s decision to quit his post to consider entering the race, adamant that it would not affect her plans. She said she was not an opportunist and was determined to serve Hongkongers.
On Thursday afternoon, Ip formally announced her candidacy and outlined her election platform at a gathering at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai.
Speaking after her party members endorsed her candidacy for the city’s top job on Wednesday, she said she would approach Election Committee members as soon as possible to garner their support and was confident she would be able to get the 150 nominations needed to qualify for the race.
Ip tendered her resignation as an executive councillor, which was accepted by the chief executive
, on Thursday morning.
Often derided by anti-establishment critics as a female version of Leung, Ip is backed by former chief secretary Sir David Akers-Jones, who became the first public figure to support her. Akers-Jones supported Leung in the 2012 election.
Her backers suggest she is respected in the circle of civil servants. Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai, a member of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee and a formerLegislative Council president, said Ip earned respect among civil servants as secretary for security between 1998 and 2003 as someone who had their backs.
But her strong support from within the establishment contrasts sharply with her image among younger and democratic voters, of which she is well aware. Commenting on the strong performance of the democratic camp in polls on Sunday to fill seats on the Election Committee that will choose the next chief executive, Ip said heavy anti-establishment sentiment was a global trend amid a widening wealth gap and a dim future for many young people. She said she understood the resentment, and had long been working to help young people move up the social ladder.
In September’s Legco elections, Ip came first in her race for a seat in the Hong Kong Island constituency, largely thanks to solid and tactical support from the pro-establishment camp. She racked up 60,760 votes, more than other poll winners such as Tanya Chan of the Civic Party and Nathan Law Kwun-chung of Demosisto.
Her party has three members in Legco, including Eunice Yung Hoi-yan, a newcomer who won a seat in New Territories East, and Michael Tien Puk-sun, co-founder and vice-chairman of the party.
“If Regina decides to run for chief executive, I would support her as a matter of principle and political ethics,” Tien said. “Although I would not say she is definitely better than any other candidate.”
“If Regina were to become chief executive and if there were occasions when the views of Hong Kong and Beijing differ, I think Regina would have the courage to argue for the interests of Hong Kong people. But once a decision is taken and she has to implement that decision, I think with her training as a lifelong civil servant, she would faithfully implement it,” Tien said.
Ip has consistently appeared in lists of the top 10 most popular legislators put together from surveys. Her popularity marks a stark turnaround from a decade ago when she was the least liked of all senior government officials after she canvassed for Article 23 national security legislation in 2003 when she was secretary for security. She was known as “Iron Lady” because of her tough and uncompromising style in the face of critics
According to Article 23 of the Basic Law, Hong Kong must pass national security legislation to “prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition or subversion” against the central government, but critics say such a law would infringe freedoms.
Ip, along with then secretary for justice Elsie Leung Oi-sie, was the main advocate of the law, but in debates and public appearances was seen as aggressive and insensitive. The controversy resulted in half a million people taking to the streets on July 1, 2003 to protest against the proposed legislation.
“Ip was very aggressive, I was very unhappy with her at the time,” said Richard Tsoi Yiu-cheong, who as leader of the Civil Human Rights Front organised the protest.
“She kept on saying there was nothing to worry about on Article 23. But there were political crimes that were only crimes on the mainland but not in Hong Kong and which Article 23 would bring to Hong Kong.”
Tsoi said Ip just “had a task to do and she was very loyal to her role – maybe she was just too loyal”.
Without enough votes in Legco to see the law through following the protests, the government reluctantly decided to withdraw the bill, and Ip soon resigned.
In November this year, Ip said she had “learned a lesson” from the Article 23 saga and “would not be so outspoken” in future. The episode turned out to be a watershed moment in her career.
Ip was born in 1950, and studied at St Stephen’s Girls’ College in Bonham Road before reading English literature at the University of Hong Kong, where she graduated with first class honours in 1972.
After working as a teacher at the now-defunct New Method College, she went on to study for a master’s degree in English literature at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, before returning and joining the government as an administrative officer in 1975.
The post marked the start of a long career in government during which she became director of the Trade and Industry Department in 1995. She also secured another master’s degree, in 1986, this time in management from Stanford University.
Her big break came when she was appointed director of immigration in 1996, becoming the first woman to head any disciplinary service. One of her tasks was to “promote” the new Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passport to countries around the world.
Ip kept her job after the handover in 1997, when Tung Chee-hwa became the first city’s chief executive.
She was heavily involved in the debate over whether to grant the right of abode in Hong Kong to mainland children whose parents were Hong Kong residents, an issue the Court of Final Appeal eventually ruled on before the National People’s Congress reversed the decision with an interpretation of the Basic Law.
In 1998 she was promoted to secretary for security – the first woman to hold the post. Her proactive and forthright style saw her initially win plaudits and become the most popular minister in Tung’s cabinet. But that candid, tough-talking approach also led to her downfall and resignation on July 16, 2003 amid the Article 23 controversy.
Retreating from the political limelight, Ip then embarked on a personal journey of re-invention, spending time in the United States at Stanford University studying for her third master’s degree, in East Asian studies, and working under Professor Larry Diamond, a prominent political scientist.
“These three years of studying overseas led me to understand that without a mandate given by the people, it is difficult to serve the community,” Ip said after she returned in 2006.
She founded a think tank, the Savantas Policy Institute, the year she came back to her home town, and by 2007 was back at the forefront of local politics as she battled former chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang in a Legco by-election on Hong Kong Island. Despite support from the pro-establishment parties, Ip lost to Chan, who was backed by the pan-democratic camp. It was a close fight as she managed to win 43 percent of the vote.
These three years of studying overseas led me to understand that without a mandate given by the people, it is difficult to serve the community
A year later she pulled off a victory in the same constituency, and was re-elected to the seat in 2012. She went on to co-found the New People’s Party in 2011 and won her seat again in 2016.
“Ip seems to have redeemed herself. Perhaps the pro-Beijing camp thinks she has done a lot of hard work in the past and are repaying her,” Tsoi said. “Maybe after going through so many elections she has improved her skills communicating with people. But to me she still sounds like a senior official.”
Tien said Ip could be open-minded.
“Regina is very accommodating when it comes to different opinions. While we need to agree on the big principles, I have a lot of freedom to decide on many issues,” he said. “She is also very decisive and she can make decisions quickly. She can handle ad hoc situations well.”
Her good relations with mainland officials have also been on display with the appearance of Professor Wang Zhenmin as the lead speaker at a forum on the Basic Law hosted by Ip’s Savantas Policy Institute last year. Wong is currently the legal chief of Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong.
On growing sentiment in Hong Kong for the city to distance itself from the mainland and even calls for Hong Kong independence, Ip has long made her stance clear. In an article for the Post in May, she said: “The reality is, like or not, China will always control our destiny. Our economic fortunes ebb and flow with those of China. Political separation is not just a matter for the 7.2 million Hongkongers, but also for the 1.4 billion mainland Chinese.”
But amid the rancour, Ip has retained the capacity to showcase a lighter side.
She made a cameo appearance in local movie Temporary Family alongside Sammi Cheng Sau-man and Nick Cheung Ka-fai, in a story about a group of people pretending to be a family in an attempt to buy a flat. In the show she played a regional councillor with a name almost identical to her real-life name, alongside a banner claiming to have “successfully improved traffic in the Mid-Levels”.
Ip married businessman Sammy Ip Man-ho, who died in 1997. She has a daughter.
