Caspar Tsui wanted to help ‘rebuild’ Hong Kong after pandemic, but Covid-19 rules brought him down
- Tsui, who said he had tendered his resignation on Monday, was the first ministerial-level official to leave under such a cloud in a decade
- He was also the first political appointee to ever be named minister, taking office while still in his early 40s
Caspar Tsui Ying-wai, Hong Kong’s first political appointee to rise through the ranks to become a minister, has now become its first official of that rank to resign under a cloud in a decade.
The 44-year-old secretary for home affairs said on Monday that he had tendered his resignation over his decision to attend an Omicron-hit birthday party just hours after joining a meeting about tightening social-distancing measures as the city’s fifth wave of infections was taking off.
The move left the future of his 14-year career in politics in doubt, and was described by city leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor as “the right act”, as she revealed she had asked the central government to remove him from his post.
“[Tsui] is by and large a very responsible, diligent colleague. But it is a very unfortunate event that he made a wrong judgment and lacked political sensitivity,” Lam said on Monday.
“He is still young. He has learned a very hard [lesson] over this incident. I am sure he will try his best to continue to serve people in Hong Kong in various capacities.”
The announcement of Tsui’s resignation came nearly a month after he attended a birthday party where anti-pandemic rules were violated. He was the most senior of several officials to later be interned at the government’s quarantine facility at Penny’s Bay after it was discovered that two people carrying the Omicron coronavirus variant had attended the party as well.