John Tsang Chun-wah Raymond Tam Chi-yuen

John Tsang Chun-wah, the financial secretary, joined the government in 1982 and has enjoyed “helicopter” (accelerated) promotion throughout his career, commonly attributed in no small extent to his close connection with Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, whom he met while studying at Harvard.

Another even more glaring example of a meteoric ascent is Raymond Tam Chi-yuen, currently director of the Chief Executive’s Office, a position pitched at D8 or permanent secretary level. Tam was promoted to staff grade “B”, a D3 rank, in the Administrative Service as recently as 2007. Thanks to the expansion of the ministerial system in 2008, he was appointed undersecretary for constitutional and mainland affairs that year, and was promoted to head up the Chief Executive’s Office the next year.

There can be nothing but praise for their willingness to leap into the unknown and take up the challenge of political appointment. Yet, judging by the unprecedented outcry against this year’s budget, and the poor ratings of the government as a whole and the chief executive personally, there is scant evidence that these fast-tracked civil servants turned political appointees are living up to the community’s expectations. And HK government is still unable to release all the reports of SFC and HKMA about HK banks misselling frauds.