Stephen Lam Sui-lung (Cantonese pronunciation: ; born 24 November 1955) was the

Chief Secretary for Administration The Chief Secretary for Administration, commonly known as the Chief Secretary of Hong Kong, is the most senior principal official of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The Chief Secretary is head of the Governmen ...

of Hong Kong and

Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs The Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs is the head of the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau in Government of Hong Kong, which is responsible for promoting the Basic Law, constitutional affairs, electoral development, and c ...

. Lam was born in Hong Kong attended Wah Yan College. He graduated from 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 ...

in 1978 and then began his public service career. During his early years in the civil service he attended the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

Law School, from which he graduated in 1983.

Career

Lam joined the Hong Kong government administrative service in October 1978. He held senior positions as Administrative Assistant to the Chief Secretary from 1989 to 1991. He was the Deputy Secretary for Constitutional Affairs from 1994 to 1996. He was the director of the

Hong Kong Handover Ceremony The handover ceremony of Hong Kong in 1997 officially marked the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the People's Republic of China. It was an internationally televised event w ...

Co-ordination Office from 1996 to 1997.Gov.hk.
Mr Stephen Lam Sui-lung.
Retrieved 17 June 2009. In this role he was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in the

Queen's Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the reigning British monarch's official birthday by granting various individuals appointment into national or dynastic orders or the award of decorations and medals. The honours are present ...

of 1997. After the

transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies ...

to the People's Republic of China, he was the Director of Administration and Development in the Hong Kong Department of Justice. From July 2002 to September 2011 he was Secretary for Constitutional Affairs. Lam then replaced Henry Tang as the Chief Secretary for Administration, with nine months of the term remaining, due to Tang's resignation from the post in advance of his expected trot to the Chief Executiveship. Lam has enjoyed the lowest popularity ratings among the three key secretaries – chief secretary, finance secretary and justice secretary – and in May 2012 scored 37.3 points out of 100.Phila Siu, (7 May 2012)
"Duty calls"
. ''The Standard'', page 1. On 5 and 6 June 2009, Lam met with

Fu Don-cheng Fu or FU may refer to: In arts and entertainment * Fool Us, Penn & Teller's magic-competition television show *Fǔ, a type of ancient Chinese vessel *Fu (poetry) (赋), a Chinese genre of rhymed prose *'' FU: Friendship Unlimited'', a 2017 Marat ...

(傅棟成),

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

Mainland Affairs Council The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) is a cabinet-level administrative agency under the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China in Taiwan. The MAC is responsible for the planning, development, and implementation of the cross-strait relations po ...

deputy minister.The Standard HK.
The Standard.com
." ''Lam seals accord for closer ties with Taiwan.'' Retrieved 17 June 2009. The meeting took place in

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

to improve cooperation between Hong Kong and Taiwan trade. He also met with

Lai Shin-yuan Lai Shin-yuan (, born 9 November 1956, in Taichung, Taiwan) is a Taiwanese politician who served as minister of the Mainland Affairs Council from 2008 to 2012. Education Lai earned an M.A. degree International Relations from the London School of ...

, the Chairwoman of the MAC. Lam decided to leave politics upon the expiry of his term of office on 30 June 2012; He became the official with lowest opinion poll since HK SAR Government was established in 1997. After the end of his term, he went to the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

to study

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

and graduated after one year.

Criticism

In July 2007 during a Legislative Council meeting, Lam was criticized by the pan-democrats for pocketing millions of dollars in government salary, while making no progress in constitutional development. Lam was dubbed “

Eunuch A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium ...

Lam” () and “human

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

” (). In 2011, his alleged "manipulation" of political development – in particular, the so-called "replacement mechanism" for filling vacancies in the Legislative Council caused by resignations, led to objections to his promotion to Chief Secretary, including a protest march of more than a thousand people, led by the

Civil Human Rights Front The Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF) was an organisation that focused on the issues of Hong Kong politics and livelihood, affiliated with almost all pan-democratic camps in Hong Kong. It was founded on 13 September 2002 and disbanded on 15 Aug ...

."Protests demand Stephen Lam resign"
RTHK News, 10 October 2011

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lam, Stephen 1955 births Living people Alumni of University of London Worldwide Alumni of the University of London Members of Gray's Inn Government officials of Hong Kong Chief Secretaries of Hong Kong Officers of the Order of the British Empire