Lily Chiang (in garb) with her dad Chiang Chen
The chairwoman of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, Chiang Lai Lei, who, perhaps predictably – she grew up, after all, in the days before thinking outside the box was invented – chose "Lily" as her English name, is in the news, but not perhaps as she would have wished it, being released on HK$1 million bail yesterday on fraud charges.
As the SCMP puts it with charming understatement, "pressure is mounting for Lily…to step down as chamber chairwoman amid allegations of share options fraud". In other words, the ICAC is chasing her down. And, as Australian jockey Chris Munce will tell you over porridge at his enforced temporary residence back in Oz, like the Canadian Mounties, the ICAC have a habit of getting their man – or woman. Indeed, they are poised to lay further charges against her.
Even being a member of the Liberal Party's executive committee may not provide immunity, it seems. Yesterday, party chairman James Tien was at pains to distance himself from the lady who was a virtual shoo-in to take her seat in the Legislative Council this year as the chamber's representative. "She believes she is innocent," he said, before announcing that she would be taking leave from her party duties.
An anonymous Liberal Party source was more bullish, trying to put a positive spin on things by proclaiming "We are not concerned because Lily Chiang's case has no relation whatsoever with the Liberal Party." Well, no, apart from the fact that Lily Chiang's case concerns Lily Chiang's integrity and fitness for public service, and Lily Chiang is a Liberal Party executive committee member. Apparently, anyway, her problems all stem from a lack of EQ: "she is only in trouble because she has made too many enemies".
According to Lily's predecessor at the chamber, David Eldon (formerly part of the Scottish mafia at Hong Kong Bank and now deputy chairman of the only organisation with more local power – the Jockey Club), who has taken up blogging in his retirement, Lily wasn't exactly the heir apparent. "Attempts were made by some unseen hands," he blogged, "to try and ensure that Lily was never given the ultimate office she sought."
I could swear I've read the same type of stuff from Elsie Tu, still trying to come to terms with the fact that the Kwun Tong electorate chose Szeto Wah rather than her at the polls a decade or more ago, ever since when she's preferred Chinese-style democracy, where a seat is more or less guaranteed if your face fits.
Lily is daughter of Chiang Chen, Chairman of The Chen Hsong Group, one of the world's largest manufacturers of plastic injection moulding machines. Lily's father has an honorary doctorate from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (of whose Court he is also a founding member), from which she received her own PhD in 1993. By coincidence, Lily's husband, Gino Yu, is employed by the Poly U as an associate professor.
Still on the subject of local seats of learning, the place that offers what it calls "liberal arts plus", Lingnan University, is also close to Lily's heart. Besides being on the Council and Court, in 2003-04 she donated (through the Lily Chiang Charitable Foundation Limited) HK$300,000 to Tuen Mun's finest, kicking sand in the face of the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation, which coughed up only HK$100,000. (In June last year, the month after Lily became the first female chair of the chamber, her father donated a whopping six million dollars to Lingnan's library.)
It would appear that 2002 was a particularly busy one for Lily, as, in addition to allegedly granting phantom share options to nine employees of her company, Pacific Challenge Holdings, which allegedly yielded HK$7.5 million to her and her executive director Shah Tahir Hussain, she set up another charitable foundation, the Lily Chiang "Wide Sky", dedicated to providing "sustainable support and assistance in education and medical science" to young people in some of the world's most notorious trouble spots, including Afghanistan and Iraq. Mind you, as Lily would doubtless attest, it can get pretty hot in Hong Kong too.
Lingnan showed its gratitude to Lily for services rendered when she was made an Honorary Fellow in October 2006. The Lingnan website records that in her acceptance speech Lily praised Lingnan's "liberal arts education mission", which enables students "to become whole persons able to think in an independent and critical manner". She also emphasised "caring for others", thus avowing a philosophy that can be distilled as ICAC (Independent Critical And Caring).
6 comments:
As a fellow blogspot blogger, I noticed your post about my family (thanks for leaving our kids out of your post - the local publications weren't so kind). My motivation for leaving a comment here is in the hope that if you got to know a bit more about the people you were satirizing, you might write with a little more understanding.
Imagine my wife's situation for a moment. After seven years of agonizing investigations and trials by the SFC (who have just as much power as the ICAC to tap your phones, subpoena anyone the deem relevant, etc.) to be found innocent only to find out later that the SFC has referred the case (after they had lost) to the ICAC for redress (why not at at 2002). Then, at the first public hearing, rather than make their case, the ICAC asks for more time because their investigation is not yet complete. You might wonder why they didn't make their charges after the investigation was complete. I wonder too.
I've known my wife for 12 years and throughout this time she has devoted herself selflessly for Hong Kong causes. She had to excuse herself from a Hospital Authority SARS meeting at the height of the outbreak to deliver our youngest son (who was pre-term at 31 weeks). She is an incredible mother and a loving wife. As you point out, our earnings go towards a charity trust to help those in need in areas such as Iraq and Afghanistan (as well as other countries), who have largely been forsaken after years of conflict. You have an eleven year old. I have three young children. I think we both would like to see a better world for our next generation.
Ulaca, I don't recall meeting you in person and I am not here to start a flame war (is that term still used? I guess I'm dated). Judging from your prose, you appear to be a creative and a proficient writer. Your travel logs are nice. I also think that it’s great that you enjoy the local cultural events (or at least make an effort to attend them). You also appear to be well read. With the challenges we as a planet face such as pollution, energy, water, widening gap, education, overpopulation, etc. There are a lot of causes worth your attention and keen commentary (here are a few of my favorites http://freedocumentaries.org/, http://www.edge.org,
and http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks).
I'm personally inspired by this one:
http://www.krishnamurti-and-education.org/edu_and_signif_ch1.htm.
Forgive me if I seem to be lecturing. We Associate Professors have a tendency to do that.
I have in fact written, not altogether positively, about the ICAC http://ulaca-es.blogspot.com/2007/10/ko-takes-her-kit-off-for-icac.html
I hope justice is done in this case.
I hope that Ms. Chiang's current problems do not adversely affect the number of photos of her which appear in Bulletin, the magazine of the Hong Kong General Chamber which to my constant astonishment finds its way to my desk quite regularly. These pictures brighten up considerably a somewhat turgid organ. I particularly enjoyed the issue when Ms. Chiang "took the helm", as the mag put it, last June.
And, yes, I have met Ms. Chiang.
You have the contacts, fumie. Have a word with Jimmy Lai about the photos he uses on the cover of his Next Magazine. That double chin is most unbecoming.
Ah, dear old Chen Hsong group. I did some work for them years ago for which they never paid me. I should have taken them to the Small Claims Tribunal, but it seemed too much trouble at the time.
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