In a departure from her usual straight-talking style, Hong Kong’s “Iron Lady” Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee kept the public hanging for more than a week before finally announcing on Saturday that she will not run in December’s Legislative Council election, ending a 17-year tenure in the legislature.
The 75-year-old founder of the New People’s Party also said it was time to pass the baton, having completed her “historic mission”, and that she would focus on nurturing new talent in the future.
Openly ambitious, Ip had demonstrated perseverance over the years, making her a more colourful and confrontational figure than many other politicians.
But life appeared to deal Ip more than her fair share of challenges.
She went from being a popular government minister to one of the city’s most reviled figures, and left Hong Kong for the United States after a row over controversial anti-subversion legislation drove half a million people to the streets.
She then returned to the city to lose, and later win, elections to become a lawmaker.
The daughter of a tradesman father and an actress mother, Ip attended St Stephen’s Girls’ College, after which she enrolled at the University of Hong Kong, studying English literature and graduating with first-class honours.
