Letters | For a career reboot, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam could start with team changes

The secretary for justice, the chief secretary and the secretary for security should have advised the chief executive better about the repercussions of pushing ahead with the extradition bill

Reading Time:1 minute

Chief Executive Carrie Lam is flanked by Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu (right) and Secretary of Justice Teresa Cheng, at a press conference on June 10. They remained unmoved by the massive protest on June 9 and only suspended the extradition bill on June 15, after clashes between the police and protesters on June 12. But that did not stop up to 2 million people, according to march organisers, from taking to the streets the following day. Photo: AP

Published: 7:30am, 28 Jun 2019Updated: 7:30am, 28 Jun 2019

As former US president John F. Kennedy once said, “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other”. The events of the past few weeks clearly reflect the need for Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to learn from her mistakes. She can start by getting herself a new set of advisers.

Even though Lam needs to take much of the blame for completely mishandling the extradition bill crisis, the hugely unpopular secretary for justice, the chief secretary and the secretary for security should also be blamed for underestimating people’s anger and not advising Lam appropriately.

The administration’s poor handling of the first protest – which attracted almost 1 million people and was primarily against the extradition bill – with Lam shrugging it off and then making a bigger blunder three days later by terming the June 12 confrontation between the police and protesters “a riot”, triggered the unprecedented rally of 2 million on June 16.

That march was less about the extradition bill and more about public anger in the face of the insensitivity and lack of remorse shown by Lam for the chaos that she and her team had created in the first place. A sincere apology from Lam was the need of the hour to diffuse tensions but, sadly, that did not come until June 18.

Lam’s advisers have failed to read the situation on the ground, consistently made poor judgments and provided bad counsel that has resulted in the complete destruction of government credibility which may take years to rebuild. Given that Lam has always been a bureaucrat first and a politician later, it was her team’s responsibility to help her navigate this political crisis effectively. It is time for Lam to change her team if she wants to reboot her political career.

Arun Garg, Taikoo Shing