Regina Ip
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| In office 1998 – 2003 |
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| Preceded by | Peter Lai |
| Succeeded by | Ambrose Lee |
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| Born | 24 August 1950  Hong Kong |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| Political party | Savantas Policy Committee |
| Spouse | Sammy Ip Man-ho (deceased) |
Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, GBS JP (traditional Chinese: 葉劉淑儀; born 24 August 1950, Hong Kong) was a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo).
She 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figure for her role advocating the passage of Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23, and after this legislation was withdrawn, she became the first principal official to resign from the administration of Tung Chee-hwa, former Chief Executive of Hong Kong.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 took a sabbatical to study for a Master's degree. She contested the Hong Kong Island by-election, 2007 for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong but was defeated by Anson Chan in the two-horse race.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early career
Ip obtained a BA from the University of Hong Kong and a MLitt from the University of Glasgow. She also studied at the Graduate School of Business of Stanford University from 1986-87, and studied for a Master's degree in East Asian Studies from the same establishment 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 University 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 for 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 government attempts to bulldoze the Article 23 proposals through Legislative Council failed, Ip resigned from office on 25 June 2003, citing personal reasons.
[edit] Post-civil service
In 2003, 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.[3] She returned to Hong Kong in 2006. She set up a political think tank - the Savantas Policy Institute, giving rise to media speculation that she was planning to run for the office of Chief Executive sometime in the future.
[edit] LegCo campaign 2007
In September 2007, she declared her intention to run for the Legislative Council in a by-election, and apologised for her handling of the Article 23 situation, hoped to put it 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.[4]
[edit] LegCo campaign 2008
Ip ran for elected LegCo office in the Hong Kong Island geographical constituency again in September 2008. She formed a ticket including dermatologist Dr Louis Shih and two elected District Councilors, Albert Wong and Ronald Chan. Her ticket won a total of 61,073 votes, the second highest on Hong Kong Island and the fourth highest Hong Kong wide. [5] She was sworn in as Legislative Councilor on 8 October 2008.
[edit] Controversies
Ip has taken controversial stances during her career including advocating for the Public Order Ordinance and defending government policy denying right of abode to the children of Hong Kong people born in mainland China since the 1997 handover.
[edit] Article 23
In September 2002 her popularity plunged when she advocated the passage of Article 23 of the Hong Kong Basic Law. While trying to rally public support in October 2002, she made her infamous remark equating democracy with the rise of Adolf Hitler at the City University. Students asserted that the proposed subversion laws would need to be defined and circumscribed precisely in order to guarantee civil rights from a central and an SAR governments, neither of which were elected by the people.[6]
| “ | "Hitler was elected by the people. But he ended up killing seven million people. This proves that democracy is not a cure-all medicine." | ” |
Ip 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.[7] However, Ip maintained that "[A]ny prosecution must go through strict legal procedures according to Common Law. Unless there was evidence of violence involved, no one could be arrested simply because of writing articles or chanting slogans." [8] Ip downplayed any opposition to the bill, predicting only 30,000 people would show up at the planned demonstration(s).[9]Ip blamed political and religious leaders for creating a "herd mentality".[9] Her popularity dropped when one remark after another contradicted popular opinion, most notably in regard to her commitment to push the bill despite the commotion and chaos of the SARS outbreak in 2003. [10]
Concerned by the government's determination to force through the bill, up to 500,000 people marched to protest on 1 July 2003.
Ip became a reviled figure. 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?"[11]
Ip later apologized for her remarks about Hitler and Article 23.[12]
| “ | I made remarks which might have been unnecessarily provocative, gave rise to misunderstanding or were hurtful for people who disliked Article 23. | ” |
[edit] Views on democracy
Ip has been criticised for her inconsistent stance toward democracy. Following her return from the United States, she shifted her public position 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. Todd Cromwell of the Asia Times referred to her as a "born-again democrat".[3] Anson Chan, her main rival in the Hong Kong Island by-election, 2007, labelled her a "fake democrat" because of this.[13]
[edit] Views on press freedom
In July 2008, Ip was once again embroiled in controversy for her comments about police tactics used against reporters covering the heated scenes in queues for Olympics tickets. In commenting about the man-handling of Hong Kong reporters by Beijing Police, she had said that "neck-shoving [techniques]... were most effective in stopping trouble-makers". The following day, she stated that she supported freedom of the press and apologised for the "slip of the tongue", clarifying that she was neither implying that journalists were troublemakers, nor endorsing the actions of the police. Democratic lawmaker Yeung Sum said this Freudian slip showed up her true colours.[14]
[edit] Recent Development
Regina Ip and Roanld Chan created the Savantas Policy Institute, a think tank in Hong Kong.
[edit] Family
Regina Ip was married to Sammy Ip Man-ho from 1981 until his death from cancer in 1997 at the age of 62. Her daughter, Cynthia, is a Benjamin Franklin Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania (class of 2012).
[edit] See also
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Regina Ip |
[edit] Video Links
Regina Ip outlines her LegCo agenda
[edit] Notes
- ^ Stanford University website
- ^ "迎向燦爛的未來". Ming Pao daily. News Weekly 1810, and 19 July 2003.
- ^ a b Todd Crowell (14 July 2006). "'Iron Ladies' resurface in Hong Kong". Asia times. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/HG14Ad01.html. Retrieved on 27 November 2007.
- ^ Election results of the 2007 LegCo by-election
- ^ Election Result of the 2008 Hong Kong Island LegCo Election
- ^ [1] "Ip lashed on Hitler jibe", The Standard, 28 October 2002
- ^ Wong, Yiu-Chung. One Country, Two Systems in Crisis: Hong Kong's Transformation Since the Handover, Lexington Publishing. ISBN 0739104926.
- ^ Ip, Regina Suk-Yee Lau. Four Funerals and A Wedding: Memoirs of Regina Ip, 2008, Ming Pao Publishers. ISBN 9789628993628.
- ^ a b Pepper, Suzanne. Keeping Democracy at Bay (2007). Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 0742508773.
- ^ Carroll, John M. A Concise History of Hong Kong, 2007, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 0742534227.
- ^ Li Huiling (17 July 2003). "Antony Leung, Regina Ip, former political stars now step down". Lianhe Zaobao (Zaobao.com). http://www.zaobao.com/special/china/hk/pages/hk170703a.html. Retrieved on 27 November 2007.(Chinese)
- ^ Diana Lee, "Slightly sorry, Regina's now raring to go", The Standard, 28 September 2007
- ^ "The gloves come off in second TV poll debate", South China Morning Post, 26 November 2007 Retrieved 28 Nov 2007.
- ^ Ambrose Leung (31 July 2008). "Regina Ip 'really sorry' for siding with Beijing police". South China Morning Post. pp. A2.
| Preceded by: Peter Lai |
Secretary for Security 1998-2003 |
Succeeded by: Ambrose Lee |
