Public service
As early as 1957, Kan was appointed as a councillor of the Urban Council and served as a member of the government's Public Service Commission from July 1959 to June 1961.[3]
He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1959 Queen's Birthday Honours.[4] He left the Urban Council in 1961 and became an unofficial member of the Legislative Council.[5][6] He was named chairman of the government's Transport Advisory Committee.
During his chairmanship of the Transport Advisory Committee in 1966, the Star Ferry applied for an increase of the first class fare of the cross-Victoria Harbour ferry from 20-cent to 25-cent and the application was soon approved by the Advisory Committee. The fare increase did not include the third class and therefore the grass roots community was largely unaffected, since the passengers of the first class deck were usually from the wealthier sector of the society. However, when the fare increase was announced by the government, it resulted in a general dissidence from the grass roots community as the Star Ferry was the only major cross-harbour public transportation at that time. The chairman of Star Ferry, M. A. R. Herries, worsened the situation when he publicly commented that "people who do not want to pay the first class fare can simply change their mind to the third class deck". That statement made a public outcry and was one of the blasting fuses of the Kowloon Riots afterwards.
Apart from his membership in the Legislative Council, he was additionally appointed as an unofficial member of the Executive Council by then governor Sir David Trench in 1966.[7][8] As the Cultural Revolution had just commenced, the political situations of both Hong Kong and mainland China became increasingly unstable. In 1967, the turbulence from the mainland finally spilled over to Hong Kong, resulting in the disastrous Leftist Riots which began as a labour dispute in an artificial flower factory in San Po Kong. During the nearly year-long Leftist Riots, Kan held a hard line towards the rioters. He made a keynote speech in the Legislative Council, insisting those bombers be brought to justice and even death sentence for serious offences.[9] He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1967 Queen's Birthday Honours.[10]
After the riot, Kan was further promoted to the status of the senior unofficial member of the Legislative Council in 1968.[11] Afterwards, he began holding a variety of public posts including the chairmanships or the memberships of the School Medical Service Board, Public Service Commission, Social Welfare Advisory Committee, the Legislative Council's Finance Committee, etc.
Kan was knighted in the 1972 New Year Honours,[12] and travelled to Buckingham Palace to receive the accolade in July.[13] He retired from the Legislative Council that same year, but continued to serve on the Executive Council.[14][15] In 1974, he was appointed senior unofficial member of the Executive Council. Soon afterwards, the price of rice in Hong Kong rose drastically and it resulted in a general inflation. To solve the problem, the government appointed Sir Yuet Keung as the first ever chairman of the Consumer Council in the history of Hong Kong.[16]
In 1978, a strike began by local civil servants. He was called to hold talks with the strikers and successfully reconciled the dispute. When Queen Elizabeth II visited Hong Kong for the first time in 1977, in his capacity as the senior unofficial member of the Executive Council, he delivered the welcome speech to the Queen in the City Hall. In March 1979, he accompanied then-governor Sir Murray MacLehose to pay a secret visit to Beijing, where both of them had a meeting with Deng Xiaoping. Knowing that the Communist China insisted on obtaining Hong Kong by 1997 and the British Government intended to give up over the issue of sovereignty, Sir Yuet Keung felt the future of Hong Kong was less assured. After the visit, he was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE),[17] and retired from the Executive Council in 1980, choosing to fade out from the politics of Hong Kong.
