Haider Hatim Tyebjee Barma
GBS,
ISO,
JP (born 1944)
served as Hong Kong's
Secretary for Transport from 1993 until 1996.
He was born as a third generation Hong Konger, educated in
British Hong Kong
Hong Kong was under British Empire, British rule from 1841 to 1997, except for a Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, brief period of Japanese occupation during World War II from 1941 to 1945. It was a crown colony of the United Kingdom from 1841 ...
, and is of Indian ancestry.
He speaks Cantonese at a fluent level. He had Hong Kong nationality and as of 1996 never acquired any other.
Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse (; AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency.
With 2,400 employees of 100 nationalities, AFP has an editorial presence in 260 c ...
(AFP) stated he had the nationality of Pakistan.
He received a BA with honours from the
University of Hong Kong
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is a public research university in Pokfulam, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese by the London Missionary Society and formally established as the University of ...
, a CBA from the
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...
, and an M. Phil from the
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
.
[
]
Career
He started as an executive officer in the Hong Kong Civil Service in March 1966. In August that year his rank increased to administrative officer. He was appointed Deputy Secretary for the Civil Service in 1968. In 1988 he became the Director of Regional Services, and in 1991 he became Director of Urban Services.[
He took his transport secretary post in 1993, replacing Yeung Kai-yin.][ This made him the person in the Hong Kong civil service in the highest rank who was not ethnic Chinese nor of origins from Western countries.][ AFP stated that he was "popular" in that role.][
On 9 January 1996 he resigned from his position because, due to the ]Handover of Hong Kong
The handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China was at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British rule in the former colony, which began in 1841.
Hong Kong was established as a specia ...
, the government would not allow non-ethnic Chinese to retain high government posts as per the Hong Kong Basic Law
The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China is a national law of China that serves as the organic law for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). With nine chapters, 160 article ...
.[ Barma stated "One has got to be pragmatic. I am not Chinese, and one has to accept the reality of historical developments."][
]
Post-career
He took another position not reserved for ethnic Chinese, as the Public Service Commission (PSC) chairperson.[ He took the PSC position effective 1 August 1996.][
He was appointed as a non-official justice of the peace on 13 June 1997.][
]
References
External links
*
20th-century Hong Kong people
21st-century Hong Kong people
Hong Kong people of Indian descent
Hong Kong civil servants
Hong Kong justices of the peace
Living people
1944 births
{{Hong Kong-stub