Regina Ip

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Regina Ip
葉劉淑儀
Regina Ip
In office
1998 – 2003
Preceded by Peter Lai
Succeeded by Ambrose Lee
Born August 24, 1950 (1950-08-24) (age 57)
Hong Kong
Nationality Chinese, Guangdong, China
Spouse Sammy Ip Man-ho (deceased)

Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, GBS B.A., MA, MSc, M.Litt (traditional Chinese: 葉劉淑儀) was formerly a prominent government official of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). She was the first woman to be appointed as Secretary for Security to head the disciplinary service. Ip became a controversial figure for her role advocating the passage of Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23, and after this legislation was withdrawn, she became the first principal official to resign from the administration of Tung Chee-hwa, former Chief Executive of Hong Kong. She has recently attempted to re-invent herself and make a political comeback but was defeated in her run for the Legco in the Hong Kong Island by-election, 2007.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early career

Ip was educated at the University of Hong Kong (BA) and University of Glasgow (MLitt). She also studied at the Graduate School of Business of Stanford University from 1986-87 and pursued graduate studies in East Asian Studies at Stanford from 2003-06.

[edit] HK Government career

Ip joined the Hong Kong Government in 1975 and started as an Administrative Officer. In 1986 Ip, accompanied by her husband, went to Stanford to study for an MBA.[1] She took various bureaucratic positions before she was appointed Director of Industry Department in September 1995. In August 1996, she was appointed Director of Immigration, a post usually filled by officials within the service, and continued to hold this post after the 1997 handover.

In July 1998, Ip was promoted to the post of Secretary of Security.[2] She remained in this position during Tung Chee-hwa's second term in government in 1 July 2002, becoming one of the 14 principal officials and a member of Executive Council.

After the Article 23 proposals were withdrawn, she lacked both popular support and support within the Legislative Council. Citing personal reasons, Ip resigned from office on 25 June 2003, ending her 28 years as a civil servant.

[edit] Post-civil service

After her resignation, Ip returned to Stanford University to pursue a Master of Arts degree, with Larry Diamond as her supervisor. Her thesis, Hong Kong: Case Study in Democratic Development in Transitional Society, expresses admiration for a bicameral system, and suggests that political parties in Hong Kong be strengthened and be more inclusive. She returned to Hong Kong on 28 June, 2006, and she begun a process of reinventing herself in the eyes of Hong Kong. She maintained a high media profile which gave speculation regarding her political ambitions. She then changed her hairstyle and set up a political think tank - the Savantas Policy Institute. This gave rise to media speculation that she may be planning to run for the office of Chief Executive sometime in the future.

[edit] LegCo campaign 2007

On September 27 that year, she declared her intention to run for the Legco in the Hong Kong Island by-election, 2007. At the same time, she apologized for her handling of the Article 23 situation and hoped to put the past behind her.

However, she came in second with 43% of the vote, losing the December 2007 by-election for the Hong Kong Island seat in the Legislative Council of Hong Kong to Anson Chan with just 137,550 votes.[3] For this campaign she spent HK$1.48 million, $330,000 less than her main rival Anson Chan. Sir Quo-wei Lee was her main donor, giving HK$150,000, some HK$100,000 less than for her rival. [4]

[edit] Controversies

[edit] Strong Beijing ties

Ip received both praise for her industriousness and her accountability under Tung's government as Secretary for Security, and criticism by implementing government policies without sufficient consultation with the public. Among the many controversial issues she has had to tackle during her time in Government, the most controversial included defending the Public Order Ordinance and the government's position in denying the rights of abode of the children of Hong Kong people born in mainland China since the 1997 handover.

[edit] Article 23

“ "Hitler was elected by the people. But he ended up killing seven million people. This proves that democracy is not a cure-all medicine."[5] ”

—Ip, speaking at a forum at the City University, October 28, 2002
Protest march against Article 23
Protest march against Article 23

In September 2002 her popularity plunged when she took on the task to promote article 23. Early on, while trying to rally public support in October 2002, she made her infamous remark equating democracy with Adolf Hitler at the City University when she was challenged by students that the proposed subversion laws would need to be very stringent in order to guarantee civil rights from a central and an SAR governments, neither of which were elected by the people.[5] She stated the Government's intention that Article 23 should be legislated by July 2003. There were fears that, should the law become enacted, Hong Kong citizens' freedom of press and speech would be at the mercy of the government.[6] Ip downplayed any opposition to the bill, predicting only 30,000 people would show up at the planned demonstration(s).[7] Ip blamed political and religious leaders for creating a "herd mentality".[7] Her popularity dropped when one remark after another contradicted public sentiment. Most notable is her commitment to push the bill even in the middle of the 2003 SARS outbreak.[8]

Faced with the government's determination to force through the bill, up to 500,000 people marched to protest on 1 July, 2003.[6]

A comic book caricature of Regina Ip
A comic book caricature of Regina Ip

Detractors also took shots at her bushy hairstyle, nicknaming her "Broomhead" (掃把頭). This included a comic book which caricatured her in police uniform and signature bushy hairstyle. She openly admitted that although she disliked the nickname, she would not change her hairstyle just to please her critics. To this, she jokingly replied: "If I can't even defend my hairstyle, how can I defend Hong Kong?"[9]

Ip later apologized for her remarks about Hitler and Article 23.[10]

“ I made remarks which might have been unnecessarily provocative, gave rise to misunderstanding or were hurtful for people who disliked Article 23.[10] ”

—Regina Ip, when declaring her candidature for Legco by-election, 2007

[edit] Views on democracy

Ip has been criticised for her inconsistent stance toward democracy. Since her return from the United States, she attempted to shift her view during her campaign for a seat in the Legislative Assembly in 2007 by saying "the only way forward for Hong Kong is complete democratization.", in contrast to her position before.[11] Anson Chan, her main rival in the Hong Kong Island by-election, 2007, labelled her a "fake democrat" because of this, and Ip's remarks linking Hitler to democracy continue to haunt her.[12]

[edit] Personal life

Regina Ip is a mother and widow. She married Sammy Ip Man-ho in 1981. He died of cancer in late 1997, age 62. Her daughter Cynthia is a student of U Penn's school of engineering class of 2012, but is currently attending the Vivian Webb School in California.[1]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
  1. ^ a b "Regina Ip a mentor to her fellow HK students at Stanford," South China Morning Post, Sunday, July 9, 2006
  2. ^ "迎向燦爛的未來". Ming Pao daily. News Weekly 1810, and July 19, 2003.
  3. ^ Election Result of the 2007 LegCo Hong Kong Island by-election
  4. ^ "Anson outspends Regina on campaign trail". Retrieved on 2008-02-05.
  5. ^ a b Ip lashed on Hitler jibe, The Standard, October 30, 2002
  6. ^ a b Wong, Yiu-Chung. One Country, Two Systems in Crisis: Hong Kong's Transformation Since the Handover. Lexington books. ISBN 0739104926.
  7. ^ a b Pepper, Suzanne. Keeping Democracy at Bay: Hong Kong and the Challenge of Chinese Political. [2007] (2007). Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 0742508773.
  8. ^ Carroll, John M. [2007] (2007). A Concise History of Hong Kong. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 0742534227.
  9. ^ Li Huiling, Antony Leung, Regina Ip, former political stars now step down. Lianhe Zaobao (Zaobao.com), July 17, 2003, Retrieved Nov 27, 2007(Chinese)
  10. ^ a b Diana Lee, Slightly sorry, Regina's now raring to go, The Standard, September 28, 2007
  11. ^ Asia times July 14, 2006. Retrieved Nov 27, 2007
  12. ^ "The gloves come off in second TV poll debate", South China Morning Post, November 26, 2007, Retrieved Nov 28, 2007.
Preceded by:
Peter Lai		 Secretary for Security
1998-2003		 Succeeded by:
Ambrose Lee
Languages