Gary Chan

The Honourable Chan Hak-kan BBS, JP
陳克勤
Member of the Legislative Council
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 October 2008
Preceded by	Li Kwok-ying
Constituency	New Territories East
Personal details
Born	24 April 1976 Fujian, China
Nationality	Hong Kong Chinese
Political party	Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong
Alma mater	Syracuse University Chinese University of Hong Kong (Bachelor of Social Science in Government and Public Administration)
Occupation	Legislative Councillor

Gary Chan
Traditional Chinese	陳克勤
Simplified Chinese	陈克勤
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Chén Kèqíng

Gary Chan Hak-kan, BBS, JP (born 24 April 1976) is a current member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. He represents the New Territories East constituency and is a member of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) political party.

Chan was born in Fujian, People's Republic of China. He graduated from the Department of Government and Public Administration at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and studied in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University. He was a member of Sha Tin District Council from 1999 to 2003. He was appointed as special assistant to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Sir Donald Tsang, from 2006 to 2008, with an annual salary of HK$77,000.^[1][2]

In 2008, Chan followed Lau Kong Wah in running to represent New Territories East in the Legislative Council elections after resigning as special assistant to the Chief Executive.^[3] With about 100,000 votes for their party list, both Chan and Lau were declared elected.^[4]

Shortly after the election results were announced, Chan was widely ridiculed for his poor English. He is quoted as saying in response to a reporter's question that the DAB would "try our breast ... to improve people's living hood [sic]".^[5]

Controversies

Urine inspection

In a pre-election debate on 2008, Chan proposed to impose mandatory drug tests on teenagers returning from Mainland China, so as to fight against the abuse of narcotics by them. The plan was criticised as abusing human rights.^[6]

Libel

In another pre-election debate on 2008, Chan questioned Leung Kwok-hung regarding his "one-minute attendance" in each LegCo meeting. Leung denied the accusation and considered it a libel on him. He replied with the fact that he had over 95% attendance and asked for an apology.^[6]

Inadequate English proficiency

Shortly after the result of the Legislative Council was announced and Chan's victory and position as a Legislative Councillor was confirmed, Chan was interviewed by the press on live TV, where he was questioned by one of the English-speaking reporters:

Mr Chan, you were able to get a seat, but the government-friendly camp is losing one seat, is that to your surprise?^[7]

Chan replied:

It is a little bit surprise for us, but we will try our breast to….(stuttering with 3 consecutive "ers")…still, er, try our breast to, er, not just, er, criticise the government's policy, but also make some, er, good suggestions in order to improve the people's livinghood. Ok?^[7]

His mistake involving the replacement of the word "best" by "breast, in particular, was criticised in the media and the general public in Hong Kong for his lack of English language proficiency despite being a Legislative Councillor.^[8][9] A clip from the interview was uploaded on YouTube and subtitled to enhance the stutters and the phrase "try our breast".^[10]

References

1. Young DAB star set to join Tsang office
2. Political parties look to young guns
3. 29 DAB candidates to contest LegCo Election 9 July 2008
4. DAB retains top spot in HK election, 9 September 2008
5. "The struggle to keep abreast of it all". South China Morning Post. Hong Kong. 11 September 2008. p. 2.
7. Television Broadcasts Limited, 7 September 2008, Legislative Council Election live interview, Hong Kong.
8. "克勤叫人試胸？碩士學歷 英文答問出事", Ming Pao, Hong Kong
9. "隔牆有耳：網民恥笑陳克勤", Apple Daily, Hong Kong
10. (陳克勤) "er...er...er...try our BREAST"