Lam Woon-kwong is happy with his present retirement life, saying he is rediscovering his way of life , doing things he likes to do and is not too eager to find paid employment again.

Lam Woon-kwong was the first Director of the Chief Executive's Office. As the CE's closest aide, he was asked how he operated the "mind-game chamber" that gauged and responded to public opinions and what suggestions he would offer to lift incumbent Chief Executive Donald Tsang's popularity rating.

"I can't answer the question because I don't know the current government's internal operations," he said.

Lam, however, said the situation of the present government is far better than in Mr. Tung's time. "I can say that the period from 2003 to 2004 was the most difficult time of the Hong Kong SAR government in its 12 years of history since the handover," he said.

At that time, the government's popularity rating was just a little over 30 percent (Tsang's latest rating has risen from 49.7 percent to 51.2 percent), plagued by rocketing unemployment close to 8.6 percent, huge number of negative equity cases and severe budget deficit in terms of several tens of billion dollars.

The economy hit rock bottom after the outbreak of the SARS virus and at the same time as people's boiling fury toward the national security legislation, among other government policy blunders, was vented.

"People's woes were deepening dramatically, but the present situation is far from that," he observed.

"Mr. Tung tried all he could to revive the economy in the

short-, mid- and long terms and he believed education was the tool that would enable Hong Kong to advance and move towards a knowledge-based economy and to compete with other cities.

"He knew very well that education policy takes a very long time to yield results. He also avoided a 'stop and go' attitude by increasing education expenditure one year when the government has a lot of money, but then cut education expenditure when the government is in red the next. So he told then financial secretary Antony Leung not to cut education expenditures as he would rather offend the civil servants by cutting civil service salaries," he said.

On ways to respond to public opinion, he said there was no such thing as a "mind-game chamber" at his time. "Personally, I don't believe in the mind-game chamber because such a small trick can only work for awhile and people will know whether or not you are doing well," he enthused.

Lam remembered that during his time, the chief secretary for administration (Donald Tsang at that time) chaired "morning prayer" sessions to discuss media reports and prepare the official line-to-take.

"I attended almost every morning except when I was extremely busy. Though I was busy, I attended the first part to formulate the line-to-take. For more serious matters, I needed to report to Mr. Tung and seek his consent before responding," Lam recalled.

Though he is out of the political scene now, he speaks highly of several political figures, including Legislative Council President Tsang Yok-sing.

"He is a very intelligent, capable person with good leadership," said Lam. "When he was a political party chairman, he could assure their votes for the government if he agreed with you, but you needed not talk to him again if he said no."

He also expressed high regarded for former unionist legislator Chan Yuen-han, praising her as a first class negotiator who knew exactly when to edge forward or give in.

"She had excellent bargaining skills," he smiled. "Bargaining is about give and take. By bargaining, I mean we do not stand firm and refuse to give in all the time. If we always refused to give in, we would never talk to each other anymore.

"She did not come to me for trivial matters. Every time she came, she had something big for me, but she always tried to convince me with good reasons," he said.

On government officials, Lam was most impressed with "bomb disposal expert" and Secretary for Education Michael Suen's sublime ability and communication skills to solve problems and to buy time.

Over the years, Suen has tackled many tough problems, including the dissolution of the municipal councils, enactment of the chief executive election law, fine-tuning of the housing policy and the mother-tongue teaching policy, while maintaining a low profile every time he completed a task.

"If he was not in charge, the dissolution of the municipal councils could not have happened. He is not in charge of the current electoral reform, is he?" Lam said. "To me, he is master class, for he can not only run circles around you, but also solve problems tactfully without doing things in too forceful a style."

On his former minister colleagues, he noted that they have gone separate ways. Whilst Michael Suen, at 65, stays on, Regina Ip resigned in 2003 to study abroad and subsequently return to become a legislator through direct election.

Stephen Ip, who retired in 2007, became an unpaid steward of Hong Kong Jockey Club and a gourmet, while Joseph Wong, who retired at the same time, has become a commentator critical of the government.

Fred Ma resigned last year for health reason, but recently returns as chairman of a listed company.

"It is funny that we go our separate ways and pursue our own ambitions," he said wistfully. "I seldom meet with the former colleagues. Although the administrative officers association sometimes meets, I do not always join. And when I join, we do not talk politics, for it is embarrassing while many of them are still working for the government."

(HK Edition 12/04/2009 page6)