Paulus Johannes Zimmerman (born 8 November 1958), better known as Paul Zimmerman, is a Dutch-born Hong Kong environmentalist, politician and businessman. He is a member of the
Southern District Council
Southern District Council is the district council for the Southern District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 such councils. The Southern District Council currently consists of 17 members, of which the district is divided into 17 constituencies, ...
for
Pokfulam
Pok Fu Lam or Pokfulam is a residential area on Hong Kong Island, at the western end of the Southern District. It is a valley between Victoria Peak and Mount Kellett, around Telegraph Bay.
Pok Fu Lam can claim several ''firsts'' in the histo ...
and CEO of Designing Hong Kong, a group that advocates better
urban design
Urban design is an approach to the design of buildings and the spaces between them that focuses on specific design processes and outcomes. In addition to designing and shaping the physical features of towns, cities, and regional spaces, urban de ...
.
Early life and business career
Zimmerman was born in
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
,
Netherlands
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, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
in 1958, and grew up in the town of
Woerden
Woerden () is a city and a municipality in central Netherlands. Due to its central location between Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht, and the fact that it has rail and road connections to those cities, it is a popular town for commu ...
. He set up a student union in high school and joined the editorial board of an underground newspaper. When he was 17, in response to the dismissal of several popular teachers, Zimmerman took part in a demonstration in which protesters barricaded the building. The school was closed for a week and the offending headmaster replaced.
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He pursued a Master's programme in Social Science (Economics) at Erasmus University
Erasmus University Rotterdam (abbreviated as ''EUR'', nl, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam ) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century humanist ...
in Rotterdam. While there, he got into politics with the Democrats 66
Democrats 66 (; abbreviated D66, ) is a Social liberalism, social liberal List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands, which positions itself in the Centrism, centre of the Left–right political spectrum, p ...
(D66).
In 1984, he moved to Hong Kong as a three-month trainee in a Dutch bank to avoid conscription
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...
. Deciding against a banking career, by 1987 he had started his own business, a graphic design firm called Bridge Design, and sold it 10 years later to Caribiner International, organisers of the Hong Kong Handover
Sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred from the United Kingdom to the China, People's Republic of China (PRC) at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British rule in the British Hong Kong, former colony. Hong Kong was establ ...
. He continued to work for what later became communications agency Jack Morton until 2001.
In 2000, he founded a strategy and policy consultancy called the Experience Group.
In the early 2000s, Zimmerman worked alongside businessman Chung Po-yan on a project that later became Designing Hong Kong Harbourfront District, a non-governmental organisation devoted to improving Hong Kong's waterfronts and promoting liveable density. The Government set up the Harbourfront Enhancement Committee in 2004 in response to the project. The project was converted into a company, Designing Hong Kong Limited, founded by him together with Christine Loh
Christine Loh Kung-wai, SBS, OBE, JP, Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite (born 1 February 1956), is a former Hong Kong Legislative Councillor, founder and CEO of Civic Exchange, founder of the Citizens Party, and founder of Hong K ...
, Peter Wong and Markus Shaw.
He was an executive director at investments umbrella company Jebsen Travel International from 2003 to 2010. He remains on the Board as a non-executive director. He retired from the position to focus his efforts on Designing Hong Kong and the Southern District Council.
He is currently the vice-chairman of the Coalition on Sustainable Tourism and Chairman of the Single-Use Beverage Packaging Working Group, best known for its initiative Drink Without Waste
A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common types of drinks include plain drinking water, milk, juice, smoothies a ...
. He is also Chairman of the Professional Commons
The Professional Commons is an independent, membership-based, non-profit organisation and public policy think tank established in Hong Kong on 25 March 2007. It is open to all professionals who share the same values.
Mission
The Professional ...
and director of the Civic Exchange
Civic Exchange is a Hong Kong-based public policy think tank and registered charity.
It was founded in 2000 by politician Christine Loh (陸恭蕙), and environmental researcher Lisa Hopkinson (何麗莎). Past CEOs include Loh, Yan-yan Yip, ...
. In 2015, he became the chairman of the Hong Kong Democratic Foundation
The Hong Kong Democratic Foundation (; HKDF) is a Hong Kong public policy think tank established initially as a political party on 27 October 1989. The Foundation was founded in the run up to the first Legislative Council direct elections of 19 ...
.
He is an Honorary Member of the American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...
for his work on the harbourfront.
He rides motorcycles, and enjoys mountaineering, paragliding, sailing and scuba diving.
Political career
Zimmerman alongside and Nathan Law">Deanie Ip and Nathan Law.">Nathan_Law.html" ;"title="Deanie Ip and Nathan Law">Deanie Ip and Nathan Law.
In 2006, lawmakers Audrey Eu Yuet-mee, Albert Lai Kwong-tak and Ronny Tong Ka-wah asked Zimmerman to join the Civic Party as a founding member. He represented the Civics in a run for a Tourism Subsector seat on the 2006 Hong Kong Election Committee Subsector election, Hong Kong Election Committee in 2006 but was not elected.
In the 2007 Hong Kong local elections, 2007 District Council election, Zimmerman ran against Wong Wang-tai in Stubbs Road
Stubbs Road is a road located in Mid-Levels East, Central, Hong Kong, which connects Happy Valley to The Peak area on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, through an area near the Wong Nai Chung Gap. It runs uphill from Queen's Road East and goes thr ...
in Wan Chai District Council
The Wan Chai District Council is the district council for the Wan Chai District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 such councils. The Wan Chai District Council currently consists of 13 members, of which the district is divided into 13 constituencies ...
, an upper-middle-class constituency, but lost by a margin of 129 votes. He later won a seat in Pokfulam
Pok Fu Lam or Pokfulam is a residential area on Hong Kong Island, at the western end of the Southern District. It is a valley between Victoria Peak and Mount Kellett, around Telegraph Bay.
Pok Fu Lam can claim several ''firsts'' in the histo ...
in the Southern District Council
Southern District Council is the district council for the Southern District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 such councils. The Southern District Council currently consists of 17 members, of which the district is divided into 17 constituencies, ...
in a by-election in 2010, succeeding Ronald Chan Ngok-pang who resigned after being hired by the Chief Executive's Office
Office of the Chief Executive (CEO) is one of the government agencies for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It consists of the immediate staff to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong and multiple levels of support staff reporting to t ...
. He was re-elected in 2011 and 2015.
His first bid for the Legislative Council was in 2008 when he ran in the Tourism
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...
functional constituency
A functional constituency is an electoral device (a non-geographical constituency) used within the political systems of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China:
* Functional constituency (Hong Kong)
* Functional cons ...
. He lost in a four-way contest to independent Paul Tse
Paul Tse Wai-chun, JP (, born 1959) is a Hong Kong solicitor, who claims himself as the "Superman of Law". He also owns a small travel agency and was elected to the Legislative Council of Hong Kong for the tourism functional constituency in ...
, receiving 81 votes.
In 2012, Zimmerman intended to run in the territory-wide District Council (Second)
The District Council (Second) functional constituency () was a functional constituency in the elections for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong which was created in the 2012 constitutional reform package. It was the largest functional constituen ...
"super seat" in the 2012 Legislative Council election
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...
and left the Civic Party when the party refused to nominate him. He gave up his Dutch citizenship but did not get enough nominations and subsequently endorsed another pro-democracy candidate Frederick Fung
Frederick Fung Kin-kee, SBS, JP (; born 17 March 1953) is a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong from 1991 to 1997 and from 2000 to 2016 and the former chairman of the pro-democracy Hong Kong Association for Democracy and Peo ...
. He also ran in the 2012 election of the Hong Kong delegates to the National People's Congress
The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China.
With 2, ...
but was not successful in an election better suited to pro-Beijing candidates.
On 1 October 2014, Zimmerman took a yellow umbrella to protest at a China National Day reception in Hong Kong in the midst of the Occupy Central protests, in which thousands of activists took to the streets to protest at Chinese government's decision retarding democratic development.
In the 2016 Legislative Council election, Zimmerman ran in Hong Kong Island
Hong Kong Island is an Islands and peninsulas of Hong Kong, island in the southern part of Hong Kong. Known colloquially and on road signs simply as Hong Kong, the island has a population of 1,289,500 and its population density is 16,390/km ...
as an independent democrat. He dropped out of the race within a week of the election because he did not want to split the vote among pro-democratic candidates, but his name still appeared on the ballot.
He once again sought election in the 2016 Hong Kong Election Committee Subsector elections
The 2016 Election Committee subsector elections were held on 11 December 2016 for 1,034 of the 1,200 members of the Election Committee (EC) which is responsible for electing the Chief Executive of Hong Kong (CE) in the 2017 election.
Although inc ...
, this time in the Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape Subsector. Of the 30 winners, Zimmerman had the most votes, 2524. He joined 20 other electors (from the 1,194 total) in nominating former judge Woo Kwok-hing
Woo Kwok-hing, GBS, CBE, QC (; born 13 January 1946) is a Hong Kong retired judge. He was the vice-president of the Court of Appeal of the High Court and former chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC) and commissioner on Interc ...
for Chief Executive
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
in the small-circle 2017 election.
In the 2019 District Council election, Zimmerman successfully won his re-election bid in the Pokfulam
Pok Fu Lam or Pokfulam is a residential area on Hong Kong Island, at the western end of the Southern District. It is a valley between Victoria Peak and Mount Kellett, around Telegraph Bay.
Pok Fu Lam can claim several ''firsts'' in the histo ...
constituency, with 2,547 votes. He is vice-chairman of the Southern District Council.
Personal life
Besides his master's degree in Economics from Erasmus University
Erasmus University Rotterdam (abbreviated as ''EUR'', nl, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam ) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century humanist ...
, Zimmerman also obtained a master's degree in Transport Policy & Planning at the University of Hong Kong
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the fi ...
. He has married twice. With his first wife, he has two sons, born in 1993 and 1995. When he renounced Dutch citizenship during his short-lived LegCo bid, his younger son also lost his. He married his second wife Jannie in 2012. The couple had a daughter, born two years earlier.
References
External links
Official website
Designing Hong Kong website
Drink Without Waste
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmerman, Paul
1958 births
Living people
Erasmus University Rotterdam alumni
Alumni of the University of Hong Kong
Dutch emigrants to Hong Kong
Hong Kong businesspeople
Hong Kong environmentalists
Hong Kong people of Dutch-Jewish descent
District councillors of Southern District
Independent politicians in Hong Kong
Civic Party politicians
Hong Kong Democratic Foundation politicians
Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2017–2021
Naturalised citizens of the People's Republic of China in Hong Kong
Dutch Jews
Hong Kong Jews
Jewish politicians