Antony Leung Personal Background When He Was Financial Secretary

Leung, a former banker and civil service outsider, took the top economic post in one of the world's key financial centers on May 1, 2001. Newspapers said Leung gave up a plump banker's package of more than HK$23 million (US$3 million) a year for a more modest HK$2.45 million.

1 Personal background

Before taking the government post on May 1, 2001, Leung served in senior management positions at big international banks in Hong Kong. He joined Chase Manhattan Corporation in 1996, where he rose to the rank of Asia-Pacific chairman.

He oversaw the Asia-Pacific operation of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., which became the No.2 U.S. bank when commercial bank Chase Manhattan bought Wall Street investment firm J.P.Morgan in 2000. But he was relocated to Singapore right before he resigned from the post.

Leung started his banking career as a currency trade and had spent 23 years with Citicorp where he took regional management positions in investment banking, corporate and private banking in Hong Kong, New York, Singapore and Manila.

Before taking up the post, he was actively involved in public services. He was the non-officio member of the Executive Council (1997-2001 April). He was responsible for the Education Reform when he was the chairman of Education Commission (1998-2001 April). The Commission chairperson now is Ms. Rosanna Wong Yick-ming, who was former chairperson of the Housing Authority and resigned after the vote of non confidence in the Legislative Council of Hong KongThe Legislative Council of Hong Kong (, abbreviated LegCo is the legislature of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. History Formed as a colonial legislature under the British, the first direct elections of LegCo in response to the scandal about the improper construction of housing estates under the Home Ownership SchemeHome Ownership Scheme , is a housing programme in Hong Kong, selling of apartment flats at a price lower than the market, with subsidies on the land value by the government. Restriction on re-selling in the second-hand market. Hong Kong Houses..

A successful commercial banker, Leung's soft-spoken manner contrasted markedly with his charismatic predecessor, Donald Tsang Yam-kuen who is now the Chief Secertary of Administration. Although a more conservative figure than Tsang, he had his share of media limelight.

Leung's marriage to Chinese Olympic diving queen Fu MingxiaFu Mingxia ( Chinese: , pinyin: Fu Mingxia) was born on August 16, 1978 in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. She is a top female diver, multiple Olympics gold medalist and world champion. She is about 1. 58m tall (5'2"). She broke numerous records in her rema on July 2002 had Hong Kong's paparazzi in a frenzy. This is Leung's second marriage. Their first baby girl was born in February 2003. Fu, a three-time Olympic champion in her early 20s, is less than half Leung's age.

Leung was educated in Hong Kong. He received secondary education in Ying Wa College and holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences degree, majoring in economics and statistics, from the University of Hong KongThe University of Hong Kong (HKU) is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong and has classes conducted in the English language. Its motto is the Latin phrase Sapientia et Virtus ), meaning "wisdom and virtue" or sometimes cited as "Foresight & Social. During his university study, he actively participated in the students activities concerning political issues. It has been a long-time goal for Leung to be a Financial Secretary according to his classmates. He completed the Harvard Business School's Programme for Management Development in 1982 and Advanced Management Programme in 1999. He received an honorary Doctor of Laws at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 1998.

2 When he was Financial Secretary

When he was in office, he proposed to have the cut 4.5% on the salary of civil servants in 2001, but with strong opposition, the cut ranged from 1.8% to 2.3%, through legislation. After that, the government proposed the cut on the salary by 3% on the two following consecutive years, 2005 and 2006.

He also stated that the government budget should be balanced at the year of 06-07 by the reboost of the economy and the further cut on government expenditure. He claimed that the urgency of rebalancing the budget was needed for the stability of economy. He suggested expenditure cut on different sectors, including the university funding.

In September 2002, new ten Hong Kong dollar notes were co-issued by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Hong Kong government in response to the problem of the fake 10-dollar coins. About 10 special features were applied to the new notes.

In the end of 2002, due to the penny stock incident, he set up a 2-people specialised group, of which he was in charge, to investigate the incident.

After the outbreak of SARS, Leung was responsible to tackle actions to reboost the Hong Kong economy. By the appropriation of 1 billion funding from the Legislative Council, one of the plans in the proposal is the HarbourFest. After his resignation, the Fest was accompanied by controversies about the chaotic arrangement of foreign singers like Rolling Stones, and the financial arrangement between the government and the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.

Before his resignation, he signed the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) with China, which is believed could help Hong Kong get out of a prolonged economic downturn.

3 The Lexusgate scandal

Leung has come in for severe criticism since January 2003, when he bought a HK$790,000 (US$101,282) Lexus 430 luxury car just weeks before he raised the tax on new vehicles in his March budget. On 15 December 2003, the Department of Justice announced dropping the case against him.

Although Leung claimed that he had decided on the tax increase after buying the car, which he said his family needed because of the arrival of his first-born, a daughter in February, news of the car purchase dealt a blow to the Hong Kong government's credibility as well as the effectiveness of the newly-introduced Principal Officials Accountability System (POAS).

Leung denied he was trying to avoid the new tax, which would have cost him an additional HK$50,000.

In view of the public outcry, he tried to diffuse the controversy by donating money to the Community Chest, a local charity. He also submitted his resignation, which Chief Executive of Hong Kong Tung Chee-hwa refused to accept. The government's unwillingness to take action after the scandal broke brought into question Tung's commitment to establish an accountable government.

Hong Kong's Department of Justice said on July 2003, after receiving a report from the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), that it was considering whether to charge him over the car controversy, which came to be known as Lexusgate .

On July 16, 2003 Leung resigned with immediate effect in the wake of mass protests over the government's handling of a controversial anti-subversion bill, having failed to reduce record high unemployment and revive battered consumer confidence. His resignation came just hours after Secretary for Security Regina Ip said she was stepping down, citing personal reasons.

At the time of their resignations, Ip and Leung were seen as the most unpopular members of Tung's cabinet.

No reason was given for Leung's departure, but the car scandal was just one of the problems in Leung's chequered tenure.

An interesting comparison between Leung and Ip after their departure from the government was about Beijing's attitude towards them. Some central government officials invited Ip for what she called a private visit to bid farewell. Leung, however, did not receive a similar invitation from central government officials who used to work with him. Analysts said it might give hints on their respective chances of a political comeback.

Henry Tang (born 1953) took over from Antony Leung as Financial Secretary. Tang comes from the family of a textile tycoon, who came to Hong Kong fleeing Communism on Mainland in the late 1940s. Tang was previously Hong Kong's Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology.

Because of Leung's personal network established when he was in commercial sector, misunderstanding on the conflicts of interest sometimes occurred, for example, he talked with Mr. Ka-shing Lee, one of the most wealthiest in Hong Kong in golf course after he came to office. He declared that it was just common chat with friends.

4 Quotes

When he was in office, his words sometimes were criticized by others.

"Call me 'Ah Chung' instead of the job title," on the first day he came to office.
"It is better for the public to know how to catch fish rather than giving fish by the government," when he was asked how government utilitzed the 40 billion reserve. [1] (21/8/2001)
"When I was taking the previous job, one day, I suddenly found somebody delivered the Chinese soup to our office.... We should promote creative industry."
He concluded the present Hong Kong economic situation as "What comes up, must go down" after the annoucement of the Budget and criticized by others for improper choice of words.
"This is the best of the time, this is the worst of the time", he adopted Charles Dicken's words in the first statement in the Address of the financial budget 2003-04

5 See also

Politics of Hong Kong

Hong Kong people Politics of Hong Kong

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