Tsang Yok-sing

Jasper Tsang Yok-sing was the founding Chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong , the largest pro-Beijing political party in the Hong Kong. He is currently a member of both the and President of . Beginning in 1997 he is mostly responsible for shifting the pro-Beijing party to one that is more inline with the Hong Kong people image. He is also the older brother of Tsang Tak-sing, most notable for his participation in the Hong Kong 1967 Leftist Riots.

Biography

Tsang received his primary and secondary education in , and graduated with honours from the University of Hong Kong with a bachelor degree in mathematics in 1968. Trained as a teacher later in the University of Hong Kong, he began his teaching career in Pui Kiu Middle School, a "pro-Beijing" secondary school. He obtained a master degree in education in 1983, and worked all the way up to become the principal of the school in 1986. He left his position in the school to become a full time politician in 1998.

Career

Tsang's involvement in politics began in 1976, when he was appointed a member of the Guangdong provincial committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

He became a member of the Conference's national committee in 1993. He took an active part in the consultative activities when the Hong Kong Basic Law was drafted in the late 1980s and was subsequently appointed into the committee responsible for the preparatory work for the establishment of the Hong Kong.

He was also a Council Member of the Open University of Hong Kong, a Non-Executive Director of the Securities and Futures Commission, Hong Kong, and the Supervisor of Pui Kiu Middle School, where he formerly served as the principal. Now he is also the supervisor of a newly established direct-subsidised school - Pui Kiu College.

He ran unsuccessfully for the Legislative Council in 1995, with his loss being blamed on revelations that he had secured Canadian passports for his wife and kids, leading to accusations from political opponents that he could leave for Canada if the 1997 handover did not go well.

Tsang is elected into the Legislative Council from the Kowloon West Geographical Constituency via direct election. Due to the setback of the DAB in the elections in November 2003, he resigned from the position of Chairman from DAB.

Pro-Beijing DAB

Tsang was the founder of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong in 1992. His party is perceived as pro-Government in a number of public policies. Most notably, the DAB was largely supportive of the Government's proposed legislation to implement of the . This has drawn heavy criticisms from the Pro-democracy camp and other critics of the legislation.

In particular, after the mass protest in 1 July 2003 to voice dissatisfaction against the proposed legislation and the government, Tsang remarked that many of those who took to the street have been misled. This caused widespread anger among the public, and although Tsang publicly apologized a few days later, his image and his party's popularity were severely affected.

Tsang shouldered the responsibility for the poor performance of his party in the 2003 District Council election, and resigned from the party's chairmanship in December 2003. He was succeeded by Ma Lik as Chairman of the DAB.

Tsang's brother was appointed by Chief Executive, Donald Tsang, to be the secretary for Home Affairs in 2007.

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