My Take | The true ‘mountains’ that Carrie Lam has to climb
The problems previously highlighted by Hong Kong’s leader-in-waiting are mere molehills; now that she is taking office, she should make use of the city’s vast reserves to tackle a host of pressing livelihood issues
Last summer, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor had people scratching their heads when she said there were three “mountains” – or contentious issues – that the government must resolve.
Now that she is taking over as Hong Kong’s leader this weekend, she may have to admit to a much longer list of real “mountains”, that is, intractable problems the city faces, rather than just a few secondary ones. One of these big “mountains” that the new government can resolve unilaterally – now that John “Mr Stingy” Tsang Chun-wah is out of the picture – is the absurd pile of cash and assets it is sitting on.
Lam, then the chief secretary, counted her three “mountains” as The Link’s controversial management of public estate malls; the MTR’s system to adjust fares; and the Mandatory Provident Fund scheme’s offset mechanism.
It was, in truth, a poorly executed campaign aimed at the grass roots: more affordable shops on public estates, cheaper subway fares, and better compensation for workers who are being sacked or made redundant. But, these are molehills compared to the “mountains” Lam now faces. Even so, the Leung Chun-ying administration has not successfully dealt with these lesser problems.
It did make a last-minute attempt to impose a solution to overhaul the MPF offsets, which only managed to upset leaders from both labour and business. The new government looks set to have to renegotiate all over again.