Man kam Lo

Early life and education

Man-kam Lo was born in 1893 in a prominent Eurasian family. His father was Lo Cheung-shiu, compradore of the Jardine, Matheson & Co.. He went to study law in England in 1906 when he was 13. He graduated with the first place of the First Class Honours in the Law Society Examinations in London and returned to Hong Kong in 1915. He began to practice law and became the senior partner of the law firm Lo & Lo.

In 1918 he married Victoria Hotung, eldest daughter of the Hong Kong prominent businessman Robert Hotung.

Public life

When the first large-scale labour strike broke out in Hong Kong in 1920, Man-kam Lo was the legal adviser for the organiser, the Chinese Mechanics Institute and settled an agreement between the workers and employers as a mediator. He was appointed Justice of the Peace in 1921.

He was the chairman of the Tung Wah Hospital between 1929 and 1930 and the honorary legal adviser for the Tung Wah Hospitals. In 1931 he was also the honorary legal adviser for the Po Leung Kuk and the Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange. He became the vice-chairman of the Rotary in 1932 and became the chairman in the following year. In January 1934, he became the chairman of the Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Children.

In May 1929 he was elected member of the Sanitary Board. He was also the member of University Council of the University of Hong Kong from 24 March 1932 until 1956. He was also vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Football Association in 1933 and first President of the Asian Football Confederation in 1954.

Man-kam Lo succeeded his mother-in-law Clara Cheung Lin-kok as director of the Tung Lin Kok Yuen at Happy Valley after she died. Po Kok School was founded and expanded by the Tung Lin Kok Yuen under Man-kam Lo.

He received the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal in 1935 and the King George VI Coronation Medal in 1937. In 1941 he was awarded the Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Legislative Council Unofficial member

In 1935, Lo-man Kam succeeded Robert Kotewall as one of the three Chinese representatives in the Legislative Council. He was outspoken for the Chinese interest during his Legislative Council service.

Lo supported the government's policy on hiring more local civil servants after a report on government salaries led to a public uproar. Governor Andrew Caldecott adopted the policy in 1935 to consider local candidates before vacancies were advertised in Britain.

Due to the threat of the Japanese, Lo was also appointed to the Taxation Committee in December 1938 which planned to introduce new tax for raising extra revenue for the war preparation. The Taxation Committee was replaced by the War Revenue Committee in 1940 and Lo was reappointed to the committee again. The committee dominating by the business sector rejected the government's proposed Income Tax Bill. However the committee also a comprise by suggesting a partial income tax.

Man-kam Lo was outspoken against the racist policy of segregation which did not change until 1946. Together with José Pedro Braga, who later became the first Portuguese appointed to the Legislative Council, they formed the League of Fellowship in 1921, aiming at eliminating "racial disabilities" and to "promote good fellowship within the Colony, irrespective of race, class and creed." After the second reading of repealing the Peak District Reservation Ordinance which excluded Chinese to reside on The Peak District on 26 July 1946 in the Legislative Council, Lo claimed that "the Chinese then had no particular desire to live on the Peak. Their opposition was based solely on grounds of racial discrimination."

In 1940 on the eve of the Pacific War, Man-kam Lo and Leo d'Almada e Castro, the Portuguese representative in the Legislative Council, protested strongly after the government's ship which evacuated a number of the British nationals, majority of pure European descent, disembarked a number of Eurasians in Manila on the way to Australia, on the excuse that the Eurasians would feel more at ease among brown or yellow-skinned people. Lo raised the issue of racial discrimination at a Financial Committee meeting by stating that "the tax-payers of this colony are being made to pay for the evacuation of a very small and selected section of the community and, whenever necessary, for their maintenance and support during an indefinite period, leaving some 99.9 percent of the population uncared for and unprotected when an emergency does come."

Japanese occupation

During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, many local Chinese leaders including Man-kam Lo were pressured by the Japanese authorities to serve on various representative committees. After the petition of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce on the difficulties of the disruption of public utilities and of supplies, the currency problem, and prostitution, the Japanese authorities formed the Rehabilitation Advisory Committee. Robert Kotewall and Sir Shouson Chow were appointed chairman and vice-chairman respectively and Man-kam Lo was appointed member of the committee. The committee held 59 meetings and was later on replaced by the Chinese Representative Council and Chinese Cooperative Council, in which he was member of the latter.

Lo was able to escape the opprobrium of outright collaboration with the occupying troops due to a series of possibly "diplomatic" illnesses. In contrast to his years in the Legislative Council before the war, Lo generally remained silent on the wartime councils. One of the only times he spoke was when the Japanese authorities asked how they might improve relations between Chinese and Japanese. He replied that the Japanese troops could take the initiative by not relieving themselves in public.

After the British returned in 1945, many local leaders were no longer appointed to public positions by the colonial government due to their collaborations with the Japanese. Robert Kotewall was asked to withdraw from public life and had to resign from the Executive Council. Sir Shouson Chow never completely returned and Li Tse-fong was not reappointed to the Legislative Council. However, Man-kam Lo was able to return to the public life because the British believed that he had worked with the Japanese only with great reluctance.

Post-war career

Man-kam Lo was appointed to the Executive Council and reappointed to the Legislative Council in 1946 where he played a great role. He was subsequently knighted in 1948 for the reconstruction of Hong Kong.

After the Second World War, the Labour Government in London decided to give further representation to the people in the colonies. On his return to Hong Kong in 1946, Governor Sir Mark Young announced a constitutional reform plan of "giving to the inhabitants of the Colony a fuller and more responsible share in the management of their own affairs." The Young Plan included the larger share of unofficial members in the Legislative Council and formation a municipal council with larger power elected by the people of Hong Kong. Lo also supported Governor Young's initiative of imposing direct taxation for more social services.

However, Young's successor Sir Alexander Grantham did not share the same view as Young. As the Chinese Communists were winning the civil war, Grantham suggested London drop the reform plan as it would create increased opportunities for Communist penetration. At a meeting of the Legislative Council on 22 June 1949, Man-kam Lo suggested that the Young Plan was no longer the best means for giving the colony's residents greater say in the government. He tabled a revised proposal supported by all unofficial members which called for a smaller reconstituted Legislative Council with an unofficial majority and abandonment of the establishment of a municipal council. Fear of possible Communist reaction, the British Cabinet eventually rejected both proposals by Young and Lo and only reopened the two elected seats in the Urban Council.

Lo helped Li Luk-wah to establish a school for the deaf and Bishop Hall to organise schools for the children of workers. In 1950 Lo attempted to register the children who were unable to attend even primary schools. In the same year Man-kam Lo suggested in the Legislative Council an inquiry into government expenditures on education, as he believed the Grant Code that provided secondary schools deficiency grants had been overly generous. N. G. Fisher, Chief Education Officer of Manchester, was invited by the government to head the inquiry. Fisher subsequently submitted a report of inquiry which became a significant blueprint for education reform in Hong Kong.

In 1950 the government appointed Lo to the Committee on Chinese Law and Custom in Hong Kong to consider reform on Chinese customs. In the committee's report, Lo suggested against abolishing the custom of Chinese men taking concubines as he stated the old law "if it is not so acted upon...will gradually die out."

In March 1951 Lo received an honorary degree from the University of Hong Kong.

Death

Man-kam Lo had suffered from heart disease in his later life. He died suddenly of a heart attack at 7:45 pm on 7 March 1959 at his Robinson Road's residence at the age of 67, when he was preparing to join the banquet at the Government House for the visit of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

On the funeral day, hundreds of prominent local residents including Governor Sir Robert Black and Commander of the British Forces Bastyan paid their respect at Lo's residence and at the Wing Pit Ting, the "farewell pavilion" in Pokfulam with the band of the Hong Kong Police at the cortege's head. Wreaths were sent from Governor Black, Secretary of State for the Colonies Alan Lennox-Boyd, and former Hong Kong governor Sir Alexander Grantham.

Man-kam Lo was highly rated by Sir Alexander Grantham in his autobiography Via Ports. Grantham said Lo was outstanding among the Executive Council and had "a first class brain, great moral courage and a capacity for digging down into details without becoming lost in them."

Family

Man-kam Lo's father was Lo Cheung-shiu, compradore of the Jardine, Matheson & Co. and friend of Robert Hotung who was also Jardine compradore and founder of the prominent Eurasian Hotung family. Lo Cheung-shiu married Shi Sheung Hing and had four sons (Man-kam, Man-hin, Man-wai, and Man-ho) and five daughters. Man-wai Lo succeeded his brother Man-kam as member of the Legislative Council.

Man-kam Lo married Victoria Hotung, eldest daughter of Robert Hotung, in 1918. Their eldest son Lo Tak-shing was studying law in England when Man-kam Lo died. Lo Tak-sing later followed in his father's footsteps, becoming a lawyer and member of the Executive and Legislative Councils. Lo Tak-shing developed a close relationship with Chinese officials after the Sino-British Joint Declaration and ran as a candidate in elections for the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong following the transfer of Hong Kong's sovereignty in 1997.

Man-kam Lo also had three daughters – Pui-yiu, Pui-kin, and Pui-yin.