Lam Woon-kwong GBS JP (born 19 April 1951) is a Hong Kong politician and civil servant who has worked as convenor of the Executive Council and chairperson of the Equal Opportunities Commission.
Lam Woon-kwong
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林煥光
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| Convenor of the Non-Official Members of the Executive Council | |
| In office 1 July 2012 – 30 June 2017 | |
| Chief Executive | Leung Chun-ying |
| Preceded by | Ronald Arculli |
| Succeeded by | Bernard Chan |
| Chairperson of the Equal Opportunities Commission | |
| In office 1 February 2010 – 31 March 2013 | |
| Preceded by | zh:Raymond Tang |
| Succeeded by | York Chow |
| Director of the Chief Executive's Office | |
| In office 1 July 2002 – 6 January 2005 | |
| Chief Executive | Tung Chee-hwa |
| Preceded by | David Lan |
| Succeeded by | John Tsang |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1951-04-19) April 19, 1951 (age 73) |
| Alma mater | zh:Wellington College Queen's College University of Hong Kong Harvard University |
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| Lam Woon-kwong | |||||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 林煥光 | ||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 林焕光 | ||||||||||||
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Lam Woon-kwong was born in 1951.[1] He graduated from the Social Sciences Faculty of the University of Hong Kong with a Bachelor of Social Sciences in Economics and Sociology. He has two master's degrees: in Public Administration from Harvard University and in Buddhist Studies from the University of Hong Kong.[2]
Lam benefited from a meteoric rise midway through his civil service career (around the time of the Handover) due to the early retirement of many of Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service officers and the local senior civil servants expected to fill their roles. Promoted thrice between 1993 and 1996, Lam became one of many junior officers who rose swiftly through the ranks. Speaking to the Standard in 1995, even he admitted his surprise.[3]
Lam served as Director of Education for just nine months. He was appointed Secretary for the Civil Service by Governor Patten in 1996, the first to be promoted, rather than transferred, into the role.[3] While there, he pushed through reforms despite significant opposition from unions.[1] He was Secretary for Home Affairs from July 2000 to June 2002.
Lam became Director of the Chief Executive's Office of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for Tung Chee Hwa in July 2002.[4] In January 2005, women's magazine Sudden Weekly (Issue 493) carried a story that included photographs of Lam with a woman outside a hotel in Tokyo and an interview with his wife of nearly 30 years.[5][6] Lam resigned on the same evening, saying, "in view of the media report on my private affairs, I tendered my resignation to the chief executive today".[7]
He became Chairperson of the Equal Opportunities Commission in February 2010. In July 2012, upon his appointment as Convenor of the Executive Council for the new Chief Executive, CY Leung, despite public concern at a possible conflict of interest, he retained his position as Chairperson of the Equal Opportunities Commission.[8] He was known for publicly disagreeing with Leung on occasion.[9]
AHKU poll in 2016 rated him the most popular member of the Executive Council.[10]
For the 2008 Olympic Games, he was chief executive officer of Olympic Equestrian Events (Hong Kong).[8] He is a governor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Society.[8]
Lam has been a regular commentator at the South China Morning Post since 2012.[11]
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'"One Belt, One Road" is very important to Hong Kong,' Lam, who is known for occasionally breaking ranks with Leung, sided with him on the issue in an interview with Cable TV.
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Secretary for the Civil Service 1996–2000 |
Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretary for Home Affairs 2000–2002 |
Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | ||
| Preceded by | Chairman of the Equal Opportunities Commission 2010–2013 |
Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Convenor of the Executive Council 2012–2017 |
Succeeded by |
| Government offices | ||
| Preceded by | Director of Education 1994–1996 |
Succeeded by |
| New creation | Director of the Chief Executive's Office 2002–2005 |
Succeeded by |