Chan Kam-lam

Chan was born in Chaoyang, Guangzhou, China on 22 January 1949. He moved to Hong Kong with his parents when he was around 8 or 9 and lived in a squatter area in his childhood before they were assigned to a resettlement estate in Kwun Tong. He attended an English school in Kowloon City and became a sailor, a desk officer on a ship, for six years after his graduation.[2] He later attended the Hong Kong Technical College, the predecessor of today's Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and graduated in 1971.[3]

Chan has been a long-time leading figure of the pro-Beijing grassroots organisation Kwun Tong Residents Association. He began his career in politics when he was elected to the Kwun Tong District Board from Ngau Tau Kok in 1988. For his local influence, he was invited to join the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), the flagship pro-Beijing party established in 1992.

In 1995, he ran for the Urban Council but was defeated by Au Yuk-har, a pro-democracy candidate. He was appointed to the Beijing-controlled Provisional Legislative Council on the eve of the handover in 1996 and was one of the ten members of the Election Committee constituency from 1998 to 2000 in the first Legislative Council of Hong Kong. Chan has represented the Kowloon East constituency since 2000 when he partnered with Chan Yuen-han.[3]

He is considered to be the hardliner in the pro-Beijing camp. In 2003, he followed the party line in support of the Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23 legislation, which sparked a protest of more than 500,000 people on 1 July 2003, adding to controversy by remarking that the protesters had been "misled". He was the subject of criticism in 2013 for not having asked a single question for more than four months during the 2012–13 legislative session.[4]

On 11 March 2016, as acting chairman, he presided over the meeting of the Finance Committee at which HK$19.6 billion in additional funding for the controversial Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL) project was approved in a sudden vote in the face of fierce protest and filibustering attempts from democratic camp legislators. Chan had facilitated the outcome by approving only 36 of 1,262 motions filed by 19 democrats.[5]

He is also a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee.

The HKSAR Government awarded Chan the Silver Bauhinia Star (SBS) in 2005.

He is married to Tsang Wai-ming, an indigenous inhabitant, and has three children. His eldest son, Chan Chun-kit is a Kwun Tong District Councillor.[3]

• Chairman of the Housing Panel of the Legislative Council (2000–01, 2002–03, 2004–05)
• Vice-Chairman of the Housing Panel of the Legislative Council (2001–02, 2003–04)
• Members of the Hong Kong Housing Authority
• Member of the board of directors of the Urban Renewal Authority
• Director of the Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation
• Non-Executive Director of the Securities and Futures Commission
• Member of the Economic and Employment Council
• Member of the Council of the Chinese University of Hong Kong
• President of the Kwun Tong Residents Association
• Member of the Central and Standing Committees and the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong
• Vice-President of the Kowloon Federation of Associations
• Executive Director of the Kowloon East Association
• Vice-Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council (1998–2000)
• Chairman of the Trade and Industry Panel of the Legislative Council (1998–2000)
• Chairman of the Manpower Panel of the Provisional Legislative Council (1997–1998)
• Vice-Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of the Provisional Legislative Council (1997–1998)
• Member of the Bilingual Laws Advisory Committee (1995−1997)

• Biography
• Kam Lam Chan's Blog (in Chinese)