Who is John Lee? Former schoolmates, teachers and colleagues give their measure of the man set to be Hong Kong’s next leader
- Former schoolmates at Wah Yan College, Kowloon recall the boy who aced exams and kept a low profile
- Lee keeps his family out of the spotlight, even old friends say they know nothing about his parents
More than three decades have passed, but former mathematics teacher Norman So Chung-ping remembers his student John Lee Ka-chiu well: “He was very obedient in using the methods I taught.”
Other boys at prestigious Wah Yan College, Kowloon, would attempt creative solutions to the homework So gave them each day, but not Lee.
“Perhaps he knew other ways. But he also knew that the most important thing was to get it done. He really followed the rules,” recalled So, who went on to be principal from 1992 to 2009.
He taught Lee during his matriculation course from 1975 to 1977 and in the end, Lee was among the rare few who scored an A for Applied Mathematics in the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination.
Several who knew him back then said diligence and the attitude of going strictly by the book offered a glimpse into the origins of Lee’s “result-oriented” philosophy as the 64-year-old prepared to be sworn in as Hong Kong’s fifth chief executive from July 1.
His expected victory came on Sunday, when 1,416 members of the closed circle of 1,461-strong Election Committee backed him. He was the only candidate, and had Beijing’s blessings to run.
Lee’s schoolmates, former teachers and colleagues who spoke to the Post shared their recollections of the schoolboy who became a policeman before emerging as the dark horse and Beijing’s most trusted man to be Hong Kong leader.
He is the second “Wah Yan boy” to get the top job. While he went to Wah Yan College, Kowloon, the city’s second chief executive, Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, attended the school of the same name on Hong Kong Island.
