George Ng Sze-fuk, Sai Kung District Council chairman for 25 years, should step aside to make room for new blood and fresh ideas. George shows no sign of doing this, however: he has been nominated to stand again in next month’s elections. As Hong Kong’s longest serving district chairman, he naturally invites questions on why he hangs on for so long. Is it the more than $98,000 salary and benefits, the smart office in Tseung Kwan O government building, cementing of control of local councils in favour of Beijing, the enjoyment of power and influence over the spending of a $25 million-plus budget, or is there something more? Touring the district with the secretary for development or the secretary for transport and housing must be very interesting.
After two and a half decades, George will have run low on ideas and energy — he is 71. The Financial Times ran a story many years ago saying the effective life of a chief executive is on average just eight years. George has been in charge in Sai Kung for three times that long. Study the best-managed companies (eg Swire Pacific) and you see they move top executives roughly every three years to ensure they don’t go stale. With a council too entrenched, with leadership stuck in its ways, Sai Kung is showing signs of neglect, for example the lack of flower beds in Man Yee Square, heart of the town.
George doesn’t need the $98,000-plus a month in salary and benefits that the Government pays district council chairmen. He is a wealthy man. Family investments include the Sing Kee and Loaf On restaurants and the new building next to the Picture House that was woefully designed and has stood empty for years. Those are just the public investments of the Ng clan, who trace their ancestry in Sai Kung back six generations. George has multiple directorships in a variety of businesses. His financial power is mainly hidden.
Is it political power that makes George hang on to his influential post in Hong Kong’s largest district by area? He is a member of the Heung Yee Kuk and DAB (Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong). The DAB is pro-Beijing and has the largest block of councillors (eight) in Sai Kung and with the help of Civil Force and New People’s Alliance, also pro-Government, controls the council. All 18 district councils in Hong Kong are controlled by Government-and-Beijing-friendly parties. These forces can choose 117 representatives that sit on the Chief Executive Election Committee. When Carrie Lam visits Sai Kung it is George who squires her around town along with the military-moustachioed district officer.
Doubtlessly in his 25 years George has done a lot for Sai Kung. People who attend the town’s cultural events are likely to see him hovering around. He is tall, quite fit for his age, if a little paunchy. George likes the food in his own restaurants. Interviewed by BUZZ some years ago he said he is most proud of helping fuse five village schools into one now known as Lee Shui Wam Memorial School among other council-promoted accomplishments such as Geopark and the Tseung Kwan O velodrome.
But George cannot deny, now he is a septuagenarian, that he no longer has the ideas, initiative and energies he did more than 20 years ago. His time as Sai Kung’s leader has past. He can leave the chairman’s seat, proud of his successes for Sai Kung and a bit sorry for his failures (the transport congestion he admitted to BUZZ). George should now step aside to make way for new younger blood and fresh ideas.
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