WHEN I WAS YOUNG My First Taste of Universal Suffrage From the time I was little, I was always the senior one. In school, I was the monitor of my class. At home, I was Big Brother. So I was always put on my best behaviour to set a good example. That is why everyone thought of me as a rather solemn sort of chap. Then, after graduating from La Salle Primary School, I went to Kowloon Wah Yan College. In the year I reached Form Six, “Kow Wah” (Kowloon Wah Yan) Students' Union took the unprecedented step of holding an election by universal suffrage. For the first time in my life, I overcame my shyness, and tried to face the electorate to explain my aspirations. In the end, I was fortunate enough to become the first president. Little did I realise at the time, that this mini canvassing exercise foreshadowed my Legislative Council campaign twenty years later.

Memories to Cambridge

My first white Christmas was at Cambridge. The third morning after the holidays began, I got up to see the branches of the tree before my window all white with snow. I had never seen snow before. This excited me beyond words. I just threw on some warm clothes, and rushed out of doors, making a beeline for the river at the backs of Trinity and King's College. Cambridge clad in fresh snow was an utterly new sight, entirely different from the Cambridge bathed in sunlight, washed in rain or shrouded in mists.

My year at Cambridge reading for a Master's degree not only broadened my view. It gave me many lovely memories.

Twenty years have passed. I still miss the Cambridge of those days.

Entering the Legal Profession

Without the Faculty of Law of the University of Hong Kong, founded in 1969, legal education may still be the privilege of the children of the rich. There would have been no judges who grew up in resettlement estates, or leading members of the profession from middle class families. Every time I set foot in Lok Yew Hall in HKU, I would stop to recall to myself my student days: the long chats in the library; jokes during tutorials in the Knowles Building; burning the midnight oil before an exam; the round-the-clock meetings of the Students' Law Association. During my second year, I became the Chairman of the Law Association, and regularly invited to the law school eminent members of the legal profession to share with us their experience of practicing law. Apart from acquiring legal knowledge, and more importantly, I also developed a concern for justice in society. This indirectly brought me to the chairmanship of the Bar in time.

Another Race

Life is never a game of chance. I deeply believe that in the bits and pieces of one's growing up are buried the seeds for future contribution to society. Two years ago. I stood for Legislative Council election, with the hope of serving the public. Today, I have taken another big step forward, with the hope of serving the cause of democracy in Hong Kong by standing for Chief Executive election. I hope that, together with the wider public, we will bring about the Hong Kong of our dreams.

MY FAMILY

To me, the best way to depressurize is to be with my family. My family is my greatest moral support.

My wife, Carol, entered law school in the same year as me. We sang a Cantonese song together during the orientation camp. When I was Chairman of the Students' Law Association, she was the Association's Legal Education Secretary. But it was only during my third year that I managed to pluck up the courage to date her on our own. Time flies, as they say, and now a quarter-of-a-century has passed.

We do not have fixed roles at home. When one of us is in anger, the other would becomes the reasoner. Carol gave up her well-paid job and bright career in order to devote her time to bringing up our three children. Her sacrifice made us a closer family. When I decided to take up politics, my family gave me unlimited support, so that I can concentrate on my work.

My three children are a greatly treasured blessing to me. I enjoy spending time alone with them, strolling on the peak or on the beach when we are free, or sharing jokes as we go shopping for sweets and biscuits. I do not try to plot a path for their future career in any way. I only wish for their health and happiness, and that they should grow up as upright individuals with integrity.

My late father had profound influence on my growing up. I remember when I applied to go to La Salle Primary School, father d up in front of the school through the night in order to get a registration form. In the sixties in Hong Kong, father saved up his hard earned salary to buy a camera – which was a luxury in those days – to take photographs of me. He died just four days before I was elected Chairman of the Hong Kong Bar. It saddens me greatly that he did not live to see me assume my office. Although he will not be here by my side as I follow my path in life, I believe he will give me his blessing and solicitude from heaven far above.