Roy Tang Yun-kwong ( zh, c=鄧忍光, p=Deng Renguang) is a Hong Kong government official. He joined the administrative service in 1987. He served as the twelfth Commissioner of Customs and Excise of Hong Kong. He is the current Permanent Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs.

Career

1987: Civil service in Administrative Service

In 1987, Tang joined the Administrative Service for the Government of Hong Kong.

2010: ''Deputy Secretary for Labour and Welfare''

In 2010, Tang was appointed Deputy Secretary for Labour and Welfare.

2011-2015: ''Director of Broadcasting'', RTHK

On September 9, 2011, Tang was appointed by the Hong Kong government as the Director of Broadcasting, the head of

Radio Television Hong Kong Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is the public broadcasting service in Hong Kong. GOW, the predecessor to RTHK, was established in 1928 as the first broadcasting service in Hong Kong. As a government department under the Commerce and Econom ...

(RTHK). Tang's appointment took effect on September 15, 2011. However, Tang, who was previously an administrative officer, did not have experience in the field of broadcasting at the time he was appointed. Therefore, many people, especially RTHK staff members, called into question Tang’s suitability for the role and saw Tang as the embodiment of government intervention into

freedom of the press Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic News media, media, especially publication, published materials, should be conside ...

, fearing he would interfere with their

editorial independence Editorial independence is the freedom of editors to make decisions without interference from the owners of a publication. Editorial independence is tested, for instance, if a newspaper runs articles that may be unpopular with its advertising clien ...

. After Tang took up his broadcasting post, he was criticized for politically interfering with the affairs of the RTHK. Criticisms of Tang have continued from his initial appointment up to the present. A survey conducted by the Democratic Party in 2013 revealed that over 40% of respondents wished for Tang to step down from his position. Besides his inexperience in broadcasting before his appointment, Tang was accused of having a dual role as he was both the chief editor of broadcasting at RTHK and an administrative officer in the government. This led to criticisms that Tang may have a pro-government stance while performing his job in RTHK.

2012: ''Legco Review''

In 2012 Tang suggested terminating the 26-year-old programme '' Legco Review'' in an internal meeting. This led to criticisms that Tang was attempting to eliminate RTHK's ability to criticize controversial world issues. Some parties believe that RTHK's programmes were mostly used to mock the government officials and government policies in a one-sided manner. They think that Tang, as a government official, could balance the internal views in RTHK towards the government. Thus, they staged a rally and started campaigns to support Tang. Some parties were dissatisfied with Tang's actions, which they viewed as political interference. They aired their grievances through the mass media, creating groups and pages on social media like Facebook to draw attention to the issue. Some even made fun of Tang by nicknaming him "the last samurai of RTHK" or spoofing his photos.

2013: ''Headliner''

In 2013 Tang criticized the idea of using Adolf Hitler and the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

as characters in the programme ''Headliner''. In the end, the producers scrapped the idea and used characters from the story Journey to the West instead. This led to criticism that Tang was interfering with RTHK's

by using his authority. In 2013 Tang did not approve the promotion of Sze Wing-yuen, RTHK's assistant director of TV and corporate business. Some claimed that it was because Sze had defied Tang's orders, hindering Tang's completion of his "political mission".

2015: ''Commissioner of Customs and Excise''

In 2015, Tang was appointed Commissioner of Customs and Excise.

2017: ''Permanent Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs''

In 2017, Tang was appointed Permanent Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tang, Roy, Yun-kwong Living people Government officials of Hong Kong Hong Kong civil servants 1963 births