Opinion | In the Year of the Pig, Carrie Lam must climb down from her high horse and put the people first

After having been hit by a series of political bombs, it is good that Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has finally promised to do a bit of reflecting.

The Year of the Dog hasn’t been a good one for the government. The convenor of the Executive Council, Bernard Chan, wondered whether Hong Kong is reaching a tipping point in public anger in his recent column. “Less than two years into the current administration, the Hong Kong government is running up against what looks a bit like populist opposition on multiple fronts,” he wrote.

Granted, they may not have been sown by the current administration, but Lam has played critical roles in every administration since the handover. That is why her attempts to deflect blame for this month’s explosive political disaster over raising the age limit for elderly beneficiaries under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) scheme hasn’t worked. As a former director of the Social Welfare Department credited with tightening the CSSA scheme and as the last administration’s chief secretary – heading the Poverty Commission when the proposal to raise the age threshold for elderly CSSA payments to 65 was mooted – Lam’s attempts to lay the policy at the last administration’s door are unconvincing.

Hongkongers need not embrace populism for their “resentment against the elite” to grow. The Year of the Dog had provided us with plenty of scandals and reasons to be critical of elitists and their “we know best” arrogance. The mother of all Year of the Dog scandals – the MTR Corporation’s epic fall from grace – will continue into the Year of the Pig. Shoddy work, mismanagement, and arrogance has taken this behemoth down, and the nightmare is nowhere near over yet.

Just last week, it was revealed that those dogs notorious for eating up homework had found their way to 40 per cent of documents certifying work on two approach tunnels and some sidetracks on the Sha-Tin Central rail link, making it impossible for safety to be guaranteed.