Lam Woon-kwong

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Lam Woon-kwong

| native_name = {{nobold|林煥光}}

| native_name_lang = zh-hk

| image = Lam Woon-kwong.JPG

| office = Convenor of the Non-Official Members of the Executive Council

| term_start = 1 July 2012

| term_end = 30 June 2017

| 1blankname = Chief Executive

| 1namedata = Leung Chun-ying

| predecessor = Ronald Arculli

| successor = Bernard Chan

| office1 = Chairperson of the Equal Opportunities Commission

| term_start1 = 1 February 2010

| term_end1 = 31 March 2013

| predecessor1 = zh:Raymond Tang

| successor1 = York Chow

| office2 = Director of the Chief Executive's Office

| term_start2 = 1 July 2002

| term_end2 = 6 January 2005

| 1blankname2 = Chief Executive

| 1namedata2 = Tung Chee-hwa

| predecessor2 = David Lan

| successor2 = John Tsang

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1951|4|19}}

| birth_place =

| alma_mater = zh:Wellington College
Queen's College
University of Hong Kong
Harvard University

}}

{{Infobox Chinese

|t=林煥光

|j=Lam⁴ Wun⁶ gwong¹

|y=Làhm Wuhn gwōng

|s=林焕光

|p=Lín Huànguāng

}}

Lam Woon-kwong {{post-nominals|country=HKG|GBS|JP}} (born 19 April 1951) is a Hong Kong politician and civil servant who has worked as convenor of the Executive Council and chairperson of the Equal Opportunities Commission.

Early years

Lam Woon-kwong was born in 1951.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e1fN0IvbBaIC&pg=PA151 |author1=Chan Ming-kou|author2=Lo Shiu-hing, Sonny|title=The A to Z of the Hong Kong SAR and the Macao SAR|website= Google Books |publisher= Rowman & Littlefield |accessdate=1 July 2017|page=151|date=2010|isbn=9780810876330}} He graduated from the Social Sciences Faculty of the University of Hong Kong with a Bachelor of Social Sciences in Economics and Sociology. He has two master's degrees: in Public Administration from Harvard University and in Buddhist Studies from the University of Hong Kong.{{Cite web |url=http://www.ceo.gov.hk/exco/eng/wklam.html |title=Exco bio |access-date=2012-08-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140427044329/http://www.ceo.gov.hk/exco/eng/wklam.html |archive-date=2014-04-27 |url-status=dead }}

In government

Lam benefited from a meteoric rise midway through his civil service career (around the time of the Handover) due to the early retirement of many of Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service officers and the local senior civil servants expected to fill their roles. Promoted thrice between 1993 and 1996, Lam became one of many junior officers who rose swiftly through the ranks. Speaking to the Standard in 1995, even he admitted his surprise.[https://books.google.com/books?id=KeEZBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA94 The Civil Service in Hong Kong: Continuity and Change page 94]. {{ISBN|9622094589}}. Ahmed Shafiqul Huque, Grace OM Lee, Anthony BL Cheung. 1 July 1998. Hong Kong University Press. Google Books. Retrieved 2017-07-02.

Lam served as Director of Education for just nine months. He was appointed Secretary for the Civil Service by Governor Patten in 1996, the first to be promoted, rather than transferred, into the role. While there, he pushed through reforms despite significant opposition from unions. He was Secretary for Home Affairs from July 2000 to June 2002.

Lam became Director of the Chief Executive's Office of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for Tung Chee Hwa in July 2002.[http://news.gov.hk/en/category/healthandcommunity/100113/html/100113en05004.htm WK Lam named equal opportunities chief]{{Dead link|date=February 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} news.gov.hk 13 January 2010 In January 2005, women's magazine Sudden Weekly (Issue 493) carried a story that included photographs of Lam with a woman outside a hotel in Tokyo and an interview with his wife of nearly 30 years.{{cite news|last=Leung|first=Ambrose|title=Tung's top aide resigns over Tokyo photos with female friend|url=http://www.scmp.com/article/484606/tungs-top-aide-resigns-over-tokyo-photos-female-friend|accessdate=2017-05-11|newspaper=South China Morning Post|date=2005-01-07|page =EDT 1}}{{cite news|last=Yau|first=Cannix|title=Lam's exit 'fresh blow to Tung'|url=http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=&art_id=1114&sid=&con_type=1&d_str=20050108&sear_year=2005|accessdate=2010-06-10|newspaper=The Standard|date=2005-01-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629172415/http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=&art_id=1114&sid=&con_type=1&d_str=20050108&sear_year=2005|archive-date=2011-06-29|url-status=dead}} Lam resigned on the same evening, saying, "in view of the media report on my private affairs, I tendered my resignation to the chief executive today".{{cite web|title=Statement by Director of the Chief Executive's Office|url=http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200501/06/0106316.htm|accessdate=2010-06-10|date=2005-01-06}}

He became Chairperson of the Equal Opportunities Commission in February 2010. In July 2012, upon his appointment as Convenor of the Executive Council for the new Chief Executive, CY Leung, despite public concern at a possible conflict of interest, he retained his position as Chairperson of the Equal Opportunities Commission.[http://www.hkpo.com/eng/aboutus/board_and_management/bm0010.jsp Bio for HK Philharmonic Society] He was known for publicly disagreeing with Leung on occasion.{{cite web|last1=Ng|first1=Joyce|title=Executive Council convenor Lam Woon-kwong defends One Belt, One Road moves|url=http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1901884/executive-council-convenor-lam-woon-kwong-defends-one-belt|website=South China Morning Post|publisher=Alibaba|accessdate=11 May 2017|language=en|date=17 January 2016|quote='"One Belt, One Road" is very important to Hong Kong,' Lam, who is known for occasionally breaking ranks with Leung, sided with him on the issue in an interview with Cable TV.}}

A HKU poll in 2016 rated him the most popular member of the Executive Council.{{cite web|last1=Cheung|first1=Karen|title=Equality commission convenor Lam Woon-kwong most popular Exco non-official member - poll|url=https://www.hongkongfp.com/2016/03/10/equality-commission-convenor-lam-woon-kwong-most-popular-exco-non-official-member-poll/|website=Hong Kong Free Press|accessdate=11 May 2017|date=10 March 2016}}

Other activities

For the 2008 Olympic Games, he was chief executive officer of Olympic Equestrian Events (Hong Kong). He is a governor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Society.

Lam has been a regular commentator at the South China Morning Post since 2012.{{cite web|title=Lam Woon-Kwong|url=http://www.scmp.com/author/lam-woon-kwong-0|website=South China Morning Post|date=2 March 2017 |publisher=Alibaba|accessdate=11 May 2017|language=en|type=list of works}}