In a rewarding life, said Ir Edmund Leung, one often finds positivity, a joyous outlook, and the will to self-improvement coming together. To lead such a life, one should “respect one’s peers, care for one’s family, be loyal to one’s country, be conscientious at work, and behave as a responsible citizen.” In none of these is perfection needed, only a firm belief in progress. This is the worldview of a quintessential professional.

Emulating strong role models from an early age

This professional’s father was an electrical engineer who eventually became a college lecturer. Most of the people Ir Leung encountered early on were related to engineering in one way or another. With such a background, he naturally settled on engineering as his academic discipline. “I chose mechanical engineering instead of electrical engineering,” he explained, “simply because I didn’t want to follow in my father’s footsteps so closely. I didn’t realise back then that very little difference exists between the two.”

Humility in success

Ir Leung has had a diverse career working at leading organisations, including China Light & Power and GEC (Hong Kong), eventually rising to the ranks of top management. “Right from the early days in my working life,” he explained, “I understood the need to acquire management skills to progress in my career. These include people management, finance and accounting knowledge, and economics, which I had to learn on the job. With perseverance I gradually acquired these skills.”

His long career was filled with cherished moments. “Leading a large team to build the first stage of MTR’s E&M system,” he said, “gave me a unique opportunity to showcase my ability. Then, in 1979, I led a GEC British team to negotiate a contract with the Guangdong government to supply nuclear power equipment for Daya Bay. Managing a team of very senior British nuclear engineering experts and being language interpreter for months was hard work, but I finally helped GEC secure the steam power generating equipment contract. I recently visited the Exhibition Hall of Daya Bay Power Station and saw a photo with caption recording GEC’s contribution to the project. My eyes were full of happy tears!”

An exhibit at Daya Bay Power Station’s Exhibition Hall showing

GEC’s contribution to the project

Ir Leung is, from the average person’s point of view, unduly modest about his achievements. He would rather describe himself as merely “contributing to” the projects’ successes than claim these successes for himself. “In engineering projects,” he went on to explain, “no single person can achieve significant results alone. It is often the effective work of a team that makes success.”

Bringing expertise to the public sphere

Most careers have their ups and downs. In Ir Leung’s case, even the downs led to something of lasting benefits for the public. After resigning from a top management position of his own free will, Ir Leung had more time on hand for public service. He served broadly on committees concerned with energy, town planning, and airport, to name just a few.

In these positions, Ir Leung achieved excellent results, being instrumental in formulating Hong Kong’s energy policy and transforming, with his professional views, many town plans for transport infrastructure into a practical form. These successes formed the firm basis of his public service in various facets for the past twenty years.

As to airport development under Airport Authority Hong Kong, Ir Leung explained that his contribution consisted in fostering “harmonious relationship among owners, consultants and contractors for the construction contracts, which minimised delays and resolved conflicts in many projects.” He modestly claimed that such successes “were not achieved with [his] own pair of hands, but by bringing together different parties and inducing them to work together.”

Others must have valued his accomplishments more highly than Ir Leung himself did, since, for these outstanding services and other equally distinguished reasons, he has received the Order of the British Empire (OBE), Justice of the Peace, and Silver Bauhinia Star (SBS).

“[The SBS],” he mused, “could be a reward for my many years of public service to the Hong Kong community. I cherish this honour and proudly wear my medal on many official occasions.” Of his OBE, he humbly reflected: “With my career history, including at the British Chamber of Commerce, I might have looked like an ideal person the British could maintain future relationship with after 1997. That might be the reason why I, a local engineer, was conferred the OBE medal. I enjoyed visiting Buckingham Palace to meet Queen Elizabeth II personally and learning of the British Empire’s glorious past.”

Receiving the SBS from the then Chief Executive

A wholehearted, humble servant of the HKIE

Ir Leung’s allegiance to the HKIE dates back to the 1970s with Division activities. In a way both remarkable and characteristic of his dedication to the Institution, he declined an offer for a desirable position to make room for the time-consuming commitments of the HKIE Presidency, which he assumed in Session 1995/1996. “I took it as an honour,” He explained, “and fortunately, my firm, being appreciative, appointed me instead as Chairman of the Region, enabling me to work off-line some of the time.”

As President, he acted dutifully and competently as his predecessors had advised—as the Institution’s media spokesperson and global ambassador. “I travelled frequently to UK, Australia and Mainland to establish relationships with peer institutions,” Ir Leung explained, “and was also often interviewed by local media, speaking on TV and quoted in newspapers about accidents.” Sometimes, misguided claims about his seeking media exposure would reach Ir Leung’s ears, but he ignored them as a rule and held fast to his duties to the Institution.

On a delegation to Australia with the Young Members Committee

Especially rewarding for Ir Leung was the numerous HKIE delegations he led, for about ten years, to various parts of the Mainland. It was Ir Leung’s conviction that these delegations exposed members, especially the younger ones, to the motherland better.

He remembered one time when the sincerity of his purpose was challenged by a fellow delegate, who questioned his motive. Wisely, Ir Leung chose to attribute this incident to the diversity of human speculations and not let this affect his enthusiasm and strength of purpose.

First media interview on behalf of the HKIE

“I cannot claim,” he summed up his contributions to the HKIE, “to have accomplished anything special in my Presidential term—only done my duties without tarnishing our beloved Institution’s reputation.” Ir Leung’s humility is something to be admired and marveled at.

Ir Leung (1st left) holding hands with HKIE Past Presidents

An unconventionally active retirement

Conducting himself beseemingly as a public servant, Ir Leung waited until his retirement—he conscientiously declined an earlier invitation—to write about Hong Kong’s infrastructure as a weekly columnist at The Standard. “I write,” he explained, “to inspire our youth and draw them to pursue engineering studies, in the firm belief that, in any society, some proportion of graduates should have an applied science background. I also believe in investing for tomorrow. Nothing is better than to exert efforts to nurture the younger generation, as this investment can reap long-term rewards.” So seriously does he take his work that he would sometimes “wake up in the middle of a night wondering what to write for the following week.”

A chance remark of Ir Leung’s at lunch—about Hong Kong’s unrecorded history soon expiring with his generation—led a renowned professor to invite him to another post-retirement challenge: to edit a volume in The Hong Kong Chronicles (Hong Kong’s official history book) about municipal services and infrastructure. “The task is arduous,” he elaborated. “It involves linking up various government departments and public utilities to research on their part in Hong Kong’s history. With these organisations’ help, the text of the volume is gradually being assembled. When all volumes get published, I hope Hong Kong will have its official history book, a reference for future generations.”

Advice from an experienced hand

Ir Leung encapsulated his advice to the young in one sentence about life, namely that it is “a continuous journey of learning; of learning how to survive and compete; of getting oneself prepared for success by learning every day.”

“In an ever-changing world,” he elaborated, “one must not limit one’s knowledge to engineering. Economics, finance, accounting, law, and IT are necessary skills. It is important to keep acquiring new skills. Human and visionary skills are as essential to survival and growth as technical knowledge. Above all, focus, perseverance and competitiveness are necessary. Healthy competition doesn’t mean putting others down but, while helping each other to grow, grow faster and taller than them. This is the infallible way to success.”

Ir Leung (2nd left) meeting up with young engineers

An authentic life in all its simplicity

Ir Leung is a man of simple habits. He does not play sports and has not travelled for pleasure in decades. Movies interest him little. But perhaps because he is always working and attending meetings, he likes to get relaxed with a beer in the evening. He enjoys his life as it is without finding it dry or monotonous.

Yet, being after all a mechanical engineer, he treasures machines like motor cars and mechanical watches. More surprising perhaps is his love of singing, which occasionally finds its expression in party performances. “So far,” he said, “there have not been many in my audience who would throw tomatoes and eggs at me.” Ir Leung’s sense of self-deprecating humour shows us his playful side.