Jailing of Hong Kong student leaders marks the end of Carrie Lam’s honeymoon with the opposition
Regina Ip says the new chief executive’s more conciliatory style of governance will come up short when the legislature resumes business in October
Watch: Pro-democracy student leaders jailed for storming government buildings
Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-kueng, being the applicant for the review of sentences, became the chief target of the sympathisers’ wrath. Carrie Lam unavoidably took some flak, too. Criminal proceedings against several other activists, who had taken part in various protests since the onset of Occupy Central, including two legislators from the pan-democratic camp, are also pending.
Judiciary in the dock: jailing of student activists opens door to debate
Yet the debate about crime and punishment is only one dimension of the many conflicts which have torn asunder our society since 2014, dividing it into the establishment (“blue”) and the anti-establishment (“yellow”) camps. The anti-establishment forces have been in abeyance on the election of a new chief executive who has vowed to part company with the unpopular ways of the previous leader. The harsh reality of the law catching up with the past has dashed hopes for an easy reconciliation in the near future.
The anti-establishment forces are sure to raise their ugly head again when Legco returns to business in October. Many in the pro-democracy camp would see a need to fight, if for no other reason than for their own survival. To garner greater public support, they would amp up the volume of their attacks on government, shattering whatever semblance of peace that has been stitched together since July 1.
In the past month, legislator Chan Kin-por, chairman of Legco’s Finance Committee, has declared his wish for a streamlining of the legislature’s rules of procedure to facilitate more efficient handling of the government’s funding requests. Such changes are bound to take away some, if not all, of the pan-democratic camp’s powers of opposition. If the pro-government camp in Legco presses ahead with such changes on the resumption of business in October, the fight between the two camps would further poison the chances of a rational dialogue between the government and the opposition.
Thus, like it or not, Lam’s honeymoon with the opposition is likely to end soon, and abruptly. She will make full use of the abundant resources at her disposal to announce measures that would improve the livelihood of the people in her October policy address. And she will receive full support from the central government. But the conflicts in our society – ideological, political and cultural – are too deep-rooted for the differences to be resolved purely by sound administrative measures or support from Beijing. Lam will have to work even harder. Above all, she must establish her moral high ground and speak for the rational, silent majority in upcoming debates.
Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee is a lawmaker and chairwoman of the New People’s Party