Personal Development & Interpersonal Relationships
個人成長與人際關係
Confessing mistakes in love life, leaving judgement to citizens
坦承感情缺失 交由市民評價
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Henry Tang Ying-yen, a popular candidate for the next chief executive rumoured to have had an extramarital affair  , made a statement on Tuesday with his wife Kwok Yu-chin admitting that he "had made mistakes in his personal love life". Mrs. Tang added that the two had "long since" decided not to look back. The couple  also left images of holding hand in hand in front of the cameras of the media. It was a little similar to the election strategies of the most two recent presidents of the United States Bush and Obama.
In electoral politics around the world, there have been many candidates who withdrew from an election after a scandal had been exposed. These scandals were most often in the "present tense" or the "present continuous tense". As for behaviour of the "past tense", it depended on the situation, whether or not the voters would accept "someone who had turned over a new leaf". Voters in different places take on different value orientations. For example, French people are more tolerant of the "love affairs" of celebrities and politicians than the conservative Americans and British.
Public has right of knowledge to leaders' private lives
In a civilised society that respects privacy, one in principle has no need to be accountable to other people for what one says or does in one's personal life but the personal lives of politicians receive greater social concern. It is not just that the public is being "nosy", it also concerns whether the implementation of public duties will be affected.
One of the examples of private life affecting implementation of duties could be seen in the former World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz. He ordered his subordinates to give his lover big pay rises, which was alleged to be a conflict of interest and led to his "girlfriend gate" trouble. He finally resigned under pressure.
On the other hand, Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, who has been in the middle of sex scandals for so many years, has not resigned because of them. The largest threat in his political life comes from whether he can properly handle the Italian national debt crisis.
The other reason why the public are concerned about the private life of a politician is that they hope their social leader can set a good example. Someone with high status and great power must not abuse his authority to satisfy himself and must have strong willpower to resist temptations, especially with cultural groups that attach importance to family values. In countries like the US, the wife and children of a national leader will be present on stage when sworn in, reflecting this philosophy. Similarly, in the emotional entanglement of a politician, the attitude of the wife plays a decisive role.
To a politician, the biggest crisis in a scandal comes from whether or not a confession is made to the public. Former US President Bill Clinton who had been involved in sex scandals for a long time has always been very popular with voters before and after he resigned. His intimate relationship with then White House intern Monica Lewinsky turned into a serious political crisis mainly because he denied it. As a result, his personal credibility was challenged instead and he had to accept congressional impeachment hearings on whether he made a false testimony.
Self-disclosure to protect credibility, rather than bear consequences
To avoid any impacts of past negative behaviour on their political lives, some politicians opt for self-disclosure when running for an election. For example, Bush and Obama respectively disclosed alcohol abuse and being unruly, not turning over a new leaf until 40 and alcohol and drug abuse when studying at middle school in Hawaii, starting a new life after entering university. Admitting mistakes once made at the earliest possible time prevents one's political opponents from seizing a mistake and wildly delivering blows. Tang chose to bear the consequences and made a public confession on Tuesday. He at least avoided the trap of triggering a credibility crisis in the future.
Tang admitted that he had made mistakes in his love life. Whether the public will accept such confession , every citizen will have a different judgement. However, from the angle of the overall situation of the chief executive election in the days to come, his action at least prevents unceasing speculations. It can refocus the line of vision of the public on the philosophy of Hong Kong administration and ability of each individual.
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