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Ray Lau Kong-wah
JP
劉江華
Secretary for Home Affairs
In office
21 July 2015 – 22 April 2020
Chief ExecutiveLeung Chun-ying
Carrie Lam
Preceded byTsang Tak-sing
Succeeded byCaspar Tsui
Under Secretary of the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
In office
21 December 2012 – 21 July 2015
SecretaryRaymond Tam
Preceded byAdeline Wong
Succeeded byRonald Chan
Non-official Member of the Executive Council of Hong Kong
In office
14 October 2008 – 30 June 2012
Appointed byDonald Tsang
Preceded byJasper Tsang
Succeeded byStarry Lee
Member of the Legislative Council
In office
1 July 1998 – 30 September 2012
Preceded byNew parliament
Succeeded byElizabeth Quat
ConstituencyNew Territories East
In office
21 December 1996 – 30 June 1998
(Provisional Legislative Council)
Personal details
Born (1957-06-22) 22 June 1957 (age 66)
British Hong Kong
Political partyUnited Democrats (1991–93)
Civil Force (1993–present)
DAB (1998–present)
SpouseMuk Fei-man
Alma materSt. Paul College
Sir Robert Black College of Education
University of Exeter
City Polytechnic of Hong Kong.
Lau Kong-wah
Traditional Chinese劉江華
Simplified Chinese刘江华

Ray Lau Kong-wah, JP (born 22 June 1957, Hong Kong), also called Ray Lau,[1][2] is a former Hong Kong Government official and former member of both the Legislative Council and the Executive Council. Until 2020, he was Secretary for Home Affairs.

Lau was vice-chairman of the pro-Beijing Hong Kong political party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), after founding the similarly aligned Civil Force in 1993. Before that, he was a member of a pro-democracy party, United Democrats of Hong Kong, one of the predecessors of the Democratic Party.

Political career

Lau was a member of the United Democrats of Hong Kong (a predecessor of the Democratic Party). After losing in the 1991 LegCo election, running as 'Ray Lau', he left the party and founded the Civil Force. He subsequently joined the DAB in 1998.[3][4]

On 14 October 2008, Chief Executive Donald Tsang appointed Lau a non-official member of the Executive Council, filling the vacancy left by the resignation of Jasper Tsang, a role he held, in parallel with his Legco seat, until June 2012.

In 2012, Lau lost his seat in the 2012 Hong Kong Legislative Council Election.[5][6]

On 20 December 2012, he was appointed undersecretary for constitutional and mainland affairs by Chief Executive CY Leung, tasked with overseeing political reforms. During the 2014 Occupy movement, as one of five officials representing the government in the televised debate with student representatives, he was mocked for saying not a word, and was then widely represented as hiding inside a typical Hong Kong rubbish bin.[7]

On 21 July 2015, Leung moved Lau to the role of Secretary for Home Affairs, a post he held through into the administration of Carrie Lam. He was removed from the post in a cabinet reshuffle on 22 April 2020.[8][9]

References

  1. ^ Beatty, Bob (2003). "The Game's Afoot: Democratic Openings in Hong Kong with Lasting Effect". Democracy, Asian Values, and Hong Kong: Evaluating Political Elite Beliefs. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger. p. 36. ISBN 9780275976880. Retrieved 8 December 2016 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ "Pro-China challenge to most popular legislator | South China Morning Post". 25 August 1995.
  3. ^ Yau, Thomas (25 June 2010) "Reluctant James To toes the party line" Archived 10 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Burton, Sandra; Colmey, John; Moriarty, Francis; Yu, Lulu (18 September 1995). "Eleventh-hour Election Fever". Time. Archived from the original on 28 October 2004. Retrieved 8 December 2014 – via Internet Archive.
  5. ^ "劉江華墮馬市民熱賀"
  6. ^ "劉江華遭自己人扯下馬"
  7. ^ "Hong Kong officials become the butt of online jokes after Occupy crisis talks". Hong Kong Government. SCMP. 22 October 2014.
  8. ^ "Government announces appointment and removal of Principal Officials (with photos)". Hong Kong Government. 20 April 2020.
  9. ^ "New faces Carrie Lam has enlisted to help Hong Kong tackle coronavirus impact". South China Morning Post. 20 April 2020.
Political offices New constituency Member of Sha Tin District Board Representative for Tsang Tai Uk1985–1999 Succeeded byLeung Chi-kin New title Member of Regional Council Representative for Sha Tin West1986–1994 Succeeded byChing Cheung-ying New constituency Member of Regional Council Representative for Sha Tin South1994–1999 Council abolished New constituency Member of Sha Tin District Council Representative for Chun Kam2000–2003 Constituency abolished Preceded byTsang Yok-sing Non-official Member of Executive Council 2008–2012 Succeeded byStarry Lee Preceded byPun Kwok-shan Member of Sha Tin District Council Representative for Tin Sum2012 Succeeded byPun Kwok-shan Preceded byAdeline Wong Under Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs 2012–2015 Succeeded byRonald Chan Preceded byTsang Tak-sing Secretary for Home Affairs 2015–2020 Succeeded byCaspar Tsui Legislative Council of Hong Kong New parliament Member of Provisional Legislative Council 1997–1998 Replaced by Legislative Council Member of Legislative Council Representative for New Territories East1998–2012 Succeeded byElizabeth Quat
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