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SEPTEMBER 8 , 2000 VOL. 26 NO. 35 | SEARCH ASIAWEEK
The Cheng affair bodes ill for Tung ahead of the legislative election By SANGWON SUH and YULANDA CHUNG Hong Kong It hasn't been the best of times for Gary Cheng Kai-nam lately. First, a mass-circulation daily ran articles alleging that he had not fully disclosed his business interests, which he was required to do as a legislator. The newspaper also claimed that he had passed on a confidential government document to a business contact. Cheng denied this, only for the paper to produce documentary evidence backing up its charges. The final blow was speculation that the damaging information had been leaked to the press by a former lover. Cheng dismissed the rumors but was forced to admit that he had engaged in extramarital affairs. Such are the revelations that have gripped the Hong Kong public in the run-up to the Sept. 10 election for the Legislative Council (Legco). The poll provides a rare electoral opportunity for Hong Kong voters to pass judgment on the administration of Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa. With his approval rating plumbing the depths, Tung may have hoped that the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), to which Cheng belongs and which has generally been supportive of the chief executive, would give him a boost by doing well in the election. But the airing of Cheng's laundry has dashed any such hopes. The affair broke on Aug. 23 when Apple Daily, known for its highly critical stance toward the government and Beijing, published an article stating that Cheng was a majority shareholder in two PR firms, Gary Cheng Kai-nam's Public Relations Consultants and Asia Ford Consultants, but had failed to declare the latter stake to Legco. Cheng tried to dismiss this as a minor oversight, but could not deny the fact that he had voted in Legco on matters affecting his business clients (among them transportation giants Cathay Pacific and the Kowloon Canton Railway Corp.) without revealing the potential conflict of interests. There was more. Apple Daily also alleged that Cheng had passed on confidential government information he had obtained in his capacity as legislator to a business associate. Cheng initially denied the charge, but after Apple Daily produced a fax marked "confidential" that he had sent to the business contact, he confessed to leaking the document. He was paid $7,700, though the recipient of the fax insists the money was not for the document. Even Cheng's own party has been subject to leaks: Cheng allegedly passed an internal DAB paper on building-maintenance laws to property developer Cheung Kong Holdings, controlled by tycoon Li Ka-shing. Cheng is also supposed to have tipped off Cheung Kong on a question he was about to raise in Legco regarding a high-tech construction project run by Li's second son Richard. (Cheung Kong denies receiving such services.) The Independent Commission Against Corruption is now investigating Cheng's dealings. The situation has severely tarnished the reputations of both Cheng and his party. Cheng's official website has been inundated with angry messages. Even fellow pro-Beijing figures have been distancing themselves from the DAB stalwart. "When you breach the public covenant, you certainly do not deserve to be a legislator," declared Allen Lee Peng-fei, a deputy of China's National People's Congress. Admitting that "Cheng's political bubble has burst," DAB chairman Tsang Yok-sing told reporters: "The saddest moment was when I got a call from Cheng's son [currently a student in the U.S.] asking me not to let his father ruin the DAB." Still, Tsang remains supportive of Cheng and has resisted calls for his expulsion. For his part, Cheng has resigned as party vice chairman and closed the two PR firms, but insists that he will not stand down as legislator if he is re-elected on Sept. 10. The timing of the revelations — coming on the eve of the Legco election — has raised eyebrows. The obvious beneficiary of the DAB's woes are the liberal, pro-democracy forces, especially the Democratic Party — of which Apple Daily is an ideological bedfellow. "The elements of a political conspiracy are present," says political commentator Lau Nai-keung. "You have to ask: Why did the scandal break in Apple Daily? Why now? Does it have anything to do with the newspaper and the democrats getting into bed together?" Tycoon Li, no friend of the pro-democracy camp and clearly displeased at having his name drawn into the scandal, likened the media frenzy to the Cultural Revolution and described the affair as a sign of "the media and politicians playing a symphony together." He even threatened to reduce his investments in Hong Kong rather than tolerate such a climate. This sparked a signature campaign that, in a remarkable outburst of public sentiment against Li, attacked his comments as an attempt to silence people with different political views. Robert Dorfman, director of the political group 2047, believes that the whole affair is simply the natural outcome of Hong Kong people demanding greater transparency and accountability. "This is not something we're used to, to be subject to this type of scrutiny," he says. "But it's healthy in as much as to require politicians to be above board." The Cheng saga is perhaps symptomatic of the semi-developed nature of Hong Kong's democracy. In a town where political activity has not been encouraged by either the British colonial masters or the mainland government, being a politician has yet to become a full-time profession. All Legco members are currently part-timers, and many run businesses on the side. In such an atmosphere, it is hardly surprising that clashes of interest should occur regularly. In fact, the Cheng affair is merely the latest and most prominent of such cases. That one previous case involved the Inland Revenue chief who saw nothing wrong with his wife working as a tax consultant simply underlines that a mature political system — and public consciousness of how such a system works — has not quite taken root. So how will the controversy affect the DAB's chances in the election? Ironically, it is not Cheng who will likely pay the price for any indiscretions. Under Tung, the electoral system has been arranged in such a way as to favor pro-Beijing parties over pro-democracy forces. It follows a proportional-representation system, which means that voters cast their ballots for groups of party members rather than individual candidates. Since Cheng heads the DAB ticket in his constituency, he is likely to have no problems winning a seat; bearing the brunt of any lost votes will be the second-in-line, Choy So-yuk. Because of the structure of the system, social scientist Ma Ngok believes that the effect of the scandal will be negligible in terms of actual seats. "The Democratic Party doesn't necessarily gain an extra seat in Legco because there might not be enough defecting votes," he says. "But they stand to gain in the absolute number of votes overall." In the last election in 1998, the Democrats won 43% of the votes and the DAB 25%, yet the former got just 12 seats to the latter's 10. The DAB had aimed to close the gap this time, if not overtake the Democrats altogether as the party with the "people's mandate," but such a scenario looks less likely now. "The Democratic Party's international image will be maintained as the most popular party in Hong Kong," says Ma. Tung loses out too, and not just because of the DAB's diminished prospects. The last election enjoyed a 53% voter turnout — the highest level ever — and Tung had promised to achieve an even higher figure this time, which would enable him to trumpet the vibrancy of Hong Kong's "democracy." But the controversy may serve to disillusion voters over the quality of their politicians and keep them away from polling booths on election day. Given his role in changing the electoral system to scale back the public's power to select its representatives, that is perhaps no more than Tung deserves. Write to Asiaweek at mail@web.asiaweek.com
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