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Carrie Lam
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Public Eye

Carrie Lam

Like him or loathe him, Tsang deserved better than this

OK, Public Eye knows this is going to get us in trouble. We know you're all going to hiss at us. But we're going to boldly go where no one wants to go. We're going to give outgoing Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen a break. We watched his final question-and-answer session in the Legislative Council and must say we were appalled at how it ended. Forget about the usual theatrics by radical legislators. Public Eye was expecting that. And forget about the finger-wagging demands by the pan-democrats that he resign in disgrace to atone for his sins. We knew that was coming too. It is, after all, an election year. The pan-democrats needed to look tough for voters by demanding the last drop of blood from a leader who will depart a humiliated man in days anyway. What appalled us was the mean disrespect for the office the man holds. Like him or despise him, he is still the chief executive. Sure, grill, humiliate, and mock him during question time. But when that's done, at least show some respect for the office he holds if not for the man himself. He did, after all, serve for 40 years as a public servant, seven of them as chief executive. He did mess up but his wrongdoings are tame compared to those of leaders such as Richard Nixon. A simple round of applause after the grilling for a departing chief executive would not have been out of place. It would have shown that our legislators know how to rise above politics when the occasion called for it. Instead, they chose to be churlish to a fallen enemy whose legacy is already in tatters. What does that say about our political culture?

Show us the proof, Mrs Lam

Let's look at what our very own iron lady, Development Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, said in declaring she'll demolish the west wing of the historic central government offices. She said a tiny minority wants to dominate the majority by demanding that the building be saved. Is she saying a minority should never be allowed to ride roughshod over the majority? If that's what she's saying then Public Eye suggests she burns it onto her forehead for all to see. It will help remind everyone that she herself is the product of a minority opinion. She's tipped to be our chief secretary, the government No 2. She's being given that job by Leung Chun-ying, who was chosen as chief executive by 689 voters in a city of seven million people. How's that for a minority riding roughshod over the majority? By the way, Public Eye is still waiting for credible proof to back her claim that the majority of people want the west wing demolished. We've only got her say-so. Show us the proof, Mrs Lam.

West wing could house the poor

Latest figures have confirmed something we already know: Hong Kong's poor are getting poorer but our rich are getting far richer. That means more people in caged homes and subdivided slum flats. Carrie Lam wants to demolish the historic west wing for a spanking new high-rise. Here's an idea: let's house the slum-flat and caged-home people in the west wing. It's certainly large enough. That way, we save the heritage building and put our poor in decent homes. But it'll never happen because it means our iron lady won't be having things her way.

Who cares about public opinion?

Here's another declaration by Carrie Lam: the iron lady says she pays no heed to whether or not she's popular. It doesn't bother her one way or another. She has a point. Why should she care what the people think about her? It's not like they can throw her out if they wanted to. She's unelected, all her bosses were unelected, she's got an iron rice bowl, and she's among the world's highest-paid bureaucrats. With all that going for you, who cares about public opinion?

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