‘I am not important’: Security chief defends staying in post following Wang Fuk Court fire inquiry

Hong Kong’s security chief has said that his duty to society, the city, and the country outweighs his personal interests, after facing questions over his political accountability for last year’s fatal Tai Po fire.

Secretary for Security Chris Tang offered an apology to the public on Friday over last November’s blaze at Wang Fuk Court, which killed 168 people and displaced thousands, a day after he bowed alongside Chief Executive John Lee and other top officials in apology for the tragedy.

“The chief executive has represented the government to express an apology to affected residents and society at large,” Tang said in Cantonese during a press conference. “As part of the government’s principal official team, I will also offer my apology to affected residents and citizens.”

Lee on Thursday also announced that ex-housing chief Winnie Ho had resigned to take political responsibility over the tragedy, saying it was his “political decision.”

However, three other ministers – including Tang – whose departments were faulted by an independent committee for shortcomings leading up to the tragedy have kept their jobs. Lee said he had demanded that the senior officials spare no effort in implementing reforms in the wake of the fire.

Asked multiple times on Friday about his political accountability and whether he had considered resigning, Tang reiterated that Lee had made a political decision, adding that his job was to follow through with reforming the city’s building maintenance regime.

But he added: “I do not matter. What matters is that the chief executive, as the head of the government, has made an order, which we must follow.”

See also: ‘Following captain’s orders’: Asked about resigning over Tai Po fire, development chief likens self to crew under John Lee

“I am not important. Society is important, Hong Kong is important, and the country is important.”

Tang on Friday also outlined the government’s plan to criminalise and increase penalties for anti-competitive behaviour such as bid-rigging, which has long plagued the city’s building maintenance and renovation market.

Joint task force on bid-rigging

Authorities have proposed criminalising bid-rigging under the city’s Competition Ordinance. Offenders would face maximum penalties of 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of HK$10 million.

At the same briefing on Friday, Rasul Butt, chief executive of the Competition Commission, said authorities had to engage with stakeholders over the proposed amendments. Officials aim to table the changes for legislative approval in April, he added.

Tang also said a joint task force between the police, the anti-graft Independent Commission Against Corruption, and the Competition Commission would be formed to facilitate cross-agency intelligence sharing and joint operations.

“We [will] draw from our existing resources and there is no additional resource implication,” Tang said.

He said that the three agencies had been combating bid-rigging separately in the past, and that a joint task force would empower authorities to identify suspected illegal activities or triad involvement at an early stage.

Officers would attend owners’ meetings to collect intelligence on suspected bid-rigging, he added.

Other legislative amendments included adding bid-rigging to the list of specified offences under the Organised and Serious Crimes Ordinance, which would empower officers to freeze assets and demand information.

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Hans Tse is a reporter at Hong Kong Free Press with an interest in local politics, academia, and media transformation. He was previously a social science researcher, with writing published in the Social Movement Studies and Social Transformation of Chinese Societies journals. He holds an M.Phil in communication from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Before joining HKFP, he also worked as a freelance reporter for Initium between 2019 and 2021, where he covered the height - and aftermath - of the 2019 protests, as well as the national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020.