Lau Kong-wah

Ray Lau Kong-wah, JP (born 22 June 1957) is a former Hong Kong Government official and former member of both the Legislative Council and the Executive Council. Until 2020, he was Secretary for Home Affairs.

Lau was vice-chairman of the pro-Beijing Hong Kong political party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), after founding the similarly aligned Civil Force in 1993. Before that, he was a member of a pro-democracy party, United Democrats of Hong Kong, one of the predecessors of the Democratic Party.

Early life, family and education

Ray Lau Kong-wah was born in Hong Kong.

Political career Lau was a member of the United Democrats of Hong Kong (a predecessor of the Democratic Party). After losing in the 1991 LegCo election, running as 'Ray Lau', he left the party and founded the Civil Force. He subsequently joined the DAB in 1998.

On 14 October 2008, Chief Executive Donald Tsang appointed Lau a non-official member of the Executive Council, filling the vacancy left by the resignation of Jasper Tsang, a role he held, in parallel with his Legco seat, until June 2012.

In 2012, Lau lost his seat in the 2012 Hong Kong Legislative Council Election.

On 20 December 2012, he was appointed undersecretary for constitutional and mainland affairs by Chief Executive CY Leung, tasked with overseeing political reforms. During the 2014 Occupy movement, as one of five officials representing the government in the televised debate with student representatives, he was mocked for saying not a word, and was then widely represented as hiding inside a typical Hong Kong rubbish bin.

On 21 July 2015, Leung moved Lau to the role of Secretary for Home Affairs, a post he held through into the administration of Carrie Lam. He was removed from the post in a cabinet reshuffle on 22 April 2020.