Lau Kong-wah

Lau Kong-wah, JP (born 22 June 1957, Hong Kong), also called Ray Lau,[1] 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 Kong-wah JP
劉江華
Secretary for Home Affairs
In office 21 July 2015 – 22 April 2020
Chief Executive	Leung Chun-ying Carrie Lam
Preceded by	Tsang Tak-sing
Succeeded by	Caspar Tsui
Under Secretary of the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
In office 21 December 2012 – 21 July 2015
Secretary	Raymond Tam
Preceded by	Adeline Wong
Succeeded by	Ronald Chan
Non-official Member of the Executive Council of Hong Kong
In office 14 October 2008 – 30 June 2012
Appointed by	Donald Tsang
Preceded by	Jasper Tsang
Succeeded by	Starry Lee
Member of the Legislative Council
In office 1 July 1998 – 30 September 2012
Preceded by	New parliament
Succeeded by	Elizabeth Quat
Constituency	New Territories East
In office 21 December 1996 – 30 June 1998 (Provisional Legislative Council)
Personal details
Born	22 June 1957 British Hong Kong
Political party	United Democrats (1991–93) Civil Force (1993–present) DAB (1998–present)
Spouse(s)	Mu Fee-man
Alma mater	St. 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
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Liú Jiānghuá Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Làuh Gōng-wàh Jyutping Lau^4 Gong^1-waa^4

Lau is vice-president 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 the early pro-democracy party, United Democrats of Hong Kong.

Education

Lau Kong-wah received secondary education in St Paul's College, Hong Kong. He graduated from the University of Exeter and the City Polytechnic of Hong Kong.

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.[2][3]

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.[4][5]

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.[6]

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.[7][8]

References

• DAB website

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. Yau, Thomas (25 June 2010) "Reluctant James To toes the party line" Archived 10 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine
3. 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.
4. "劉江華墮馬市民熱賀"
5. "劉江華遭自己人扯下馬"
6. "Hong Kong officials become the butt of online jokes after Occupy crisis talks". Hong Kong Government. SCMP. 22 October 2014.
7. "Government announces appointment and removal of Principal Officials (with photos)". Hong Kong Government. 20 April 2020.
8. "New faces Carrie Lam has enlisted to help Hong Kong tackle coronavirus impact". South China Morning Post. 20 April 2020.