FUNERAL POLITICS IN HONG KONG

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 HONG KONG 002202 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EAP AND EAP/CM NSC FOR DENNIS WILDER E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/23/2032 TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR SOCI CH HK SUBJECT: FUNERAL POLITICS IN HONG KONG REF: HONG KONG 02067 Classified By: Acting E/P Chief Craig Reilly; Reasons 1.4 (b, d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Most of Hong Kong's political elite, including central government representatives, will attend the August 24 funeral of Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) Chairman and Legislative Councilor Ma Lik. After the funeral, the DAB Central Committee will select a new leader, most likely Acting Chairman and Legislator Tam Yiu-chung. At the same time, the race to win Ma's Legislative Council (Legco) seat will get underway. Former Secretary for Security Regina Ip almost definitely will run, with support from both the DAB and the Liberal Party (LP). On the pan-democratic side, the various parties have agreed to field a single candidate, with former Legco member Cyd Ho and League of Social Democrats (LSD) leader Raymond Wong Yuk-man the leading contenders. The democrats are concerned that low voter turnout in a by-election will favor Ip, and also that both Ho and Wong could be vulnerable in a mud-slinging election campaign. End Summary. ¶2. (C) Comment: It appears that the PRC central government is using Ma's funeral to send a message of support to the DAB and, more broadly, to the people of Hong Kong that the DAB is their bridge to Beijing, that it is Hong Kong's most important political party, and that Beijing remembers and appreciates the contributions of Ma and other supporters. The high profile accorded the funeral may not be what his widow, a retired secondary school teacher who has avoided public limelight throughout her husband's public service career, would prefer. Regarding the election, both sides sorely want to use this by-election campaign to energize their voters for the November 18 District Council election and to build momentum for the September 2008 Legco general election. The pro-government and pro-Beijing parties want to keep Ma's seat in their camp and view Regina Ip as their best hope, although some of them have reservations about her. The pan-democrats want to add another seat to their Legco ranks and also repair their public image of poor coordination and poor strategy by uniting behind a single candidate; they know that having two democrats in the race would deliver the election to Ip. The wild card is Raymond Wong, who might run as an independent to express his anger at the other democrats and to harass Ip. End Comment. Hong Kong Who's Who -------------- ¶3. (C) The August 24 funeral of DAB Chairman and Legislative Councilor Ma Lik, who died August 8 in Guangzhou after a long battle against colon cancer (ref),promises to be a major political event in Hong Kong. Last week, the DAB published a list of 337 members of the funeral committee to oversee arrangements for the ceremony, headed by DAB Vice Chairman Tam Yiu-chung, who is likely to succeed Ma as Chairman on August 28. By comparison, the funeral committee last year for Henry Fok, one of Hong Kong's wealthiest businessmen who also was Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Vice Chairman, National People's Congress (NPC) Vice Chairman, a Basic Law drafter, and former chairman of the Hong Kong Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, included "only" 74 members. Among the 19 Ma funeral committee vice chairs are Hong Kong Government (HKG) Chief Secretary Henry Tang, Central Government Liaison Office Deputy Director Zhou Jun-ming, NPC Standing Committee member Tsang Hin-chi, Hong Kong Executive Council Convenor Leung Chun-ying, Legco President Rita Fan, casino tycoon and CPPCC Standing Committee member Stanley Ho, and LP Chairman James Tien. Other committee members include four Hong Kong Government (HKG) cabinet members, two law enforcement agency heads, four of Chief Executive Donald Tsang's closest advisors, former Secretary for Security Regina Ip, and a large number of Hong SIPDIS Kong's most prominent business leaders. Two well-known democrats, Confederation of Trade Unions legislator Lau Chin-shek and Executive Councilor Anthony Cheung, also were named to the committee; Cheung is out of town until September and neither Lau nor Cheung is playing any role in the funeral preparations. The PRC national flag will be draped over Ma's coffin. Race is On for Ma's Legco Seat -------------- ¶4. (C) The by-election for Ma's Legco seat will be held in early December. Most observers agree that former Secretary for Security Regina Ip will run, probably with support from HONG KONG 00002202 002 OF 003 both the DAB and the LP, neither of which has an obvious candidate of her stature. Ip has said she would announce her intentions after Ma's funeral, but her desire to enter Legco is well known. Political commentator Allen Lee laughed when we asked him if Ip would run, and noted that she has been working to strengthen her connections with the DAB and the LP and also would draw strong support from current and former civil servants. On the other side, twelve Hong Kong pan-democratic legislators met August 21 and agreed to support a single candidate, but have yet to decide on a selection mechanism. The individual pan-democratic parties are to complete their internal nomination procedures by September 10 and agree on a joint candidate by mid-October. The leading possibilities are District Councilor and former Legco member Cyd Ho and League of Social Democrats (LSD) leader Raymond Wong Yuk-man, although several other, less prominent democrats also have expressed interest. Democratic Party legislator Martin Lee told the Consul General that retired Chief Secretary Anson Chan would be a strong candidate who could defeat Ip, but he doubted she would want to run. ¶5. (C) Civic Party Secretary General Joseph Cheng told us August 22 that he was hopeful the pan-democrats would be able to agree on a candidate, but he also said there were "difficulties." Cheng said neither the Civic Party nor the Democratic Party (DP) had a candidate, although the DP leadership is under considerable pressure from its "second tier" leaders, who are disgruntled that their opportunities to run for Legco are blocked by long-serving senior legislators. Cheng believes those more junior politicians would have very little chance for success in a primary election against either Ho or Wong, and even less chance in a Legco race against Ip. ¶6. (C) According to Cheng, there are two major problems for the pan-democrats. First, voter turnout for a by-election might be low, and the DAB is much more able than the pan-democrats to mobilize grass-roots supporters. Recognizing that, the pan-democrats have asked the HKG to consider holding the by-election concurrently with the November 18 District Council vote; the HKG, citing potential "voter confusion," has declined. Second, Cheng said he was very concerned that "lots of scandals" might be uncovered during the campaign. Under "normal circumstances" he thought Ho could easily defeat Ip, but Ho's recent ill-advised suggestion that the public should withhold payment of property taxes to pressure the government to move forward on implementation of universal suffrage was a "bad mistake." Cheng also believes Ho has powerful political enemies. On the other hand, Wong apparently would bring even more political baggage to the election. Cyd Ho: Veteran Democrat -------------- ¶7. (C) Cyd Ho is an articulate District Council member strongly involved in human rights and environmental protection issues. She served in Legco from 1998 to 2004 but lost her seat in the 2004 election when the DP, fearing that their founder and former chairman Martin Lee might lose, urged voters to cast their votes only for him. As a result, the DAB was able to capture Ho's seat by an extremely narrow margin. She told us several months ago that she intended to run for a Legco seat in 2008, and following Ma's death she immediately announced that she would contest the by-election. Ip criticized Ho for encouraging people to break the law regarding tax payments, and Ho has retracted her suggestion. We are not aware of any other "scandals" regarding Ho that could damage her candidacy. Raymond Wong: Potential Spoiler -------------- ¶8. (C) Raymond Wong Yuk-man is leader of the League of Social Democrats (LSD),a small, fairly loose and radical political alliance that includes legislators "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung and Albert Chan. The LSD refused to support Alan Leong's candidacy for Chief Executive in March because they believed that contesting the "small circle" election served to legitimize a fundamentally undemocratic process. Wong is widely believed to have close triad connections, and also to harbor a strong dislike of Regina Ip; he has said that if Ip ran for Legco, he would "chase her like a dog." According to Allen Lee, Wong was very angry that the other pan-democrats did not consult the LSD sooner about the by-election, and might enter the race out of spite. HONG KONG 00002202 003 OF 003 Cunningham