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Alex Lo
SCMP Columnist
My Take
by Alex Lo
My Take
by Alex Lo

Betrayed Carrie Lam loyalists to pay price at polls

  • Suspension of the extradition bill has led to the city’s leader being sworn at by a pro-Beijing lawmaker, many of whom are now unelectable as elections near

New visitors may mistakenly think “delay no more” is Hong Kong people’s version of the Latin “carpe diem”. Expats who have been here for a few months will know better.

In a farcical sideshow to the extradition bill debacle, pundits have been speculating for days who shouted the Cantonese obscenity at Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor at a special meeting she held last week with pro-government people.

The consensus now seems to be that it was none other than Alice Mak Mei-kuen, the pro-Beijing Federation of Trade Unions legislator. Presumably, Mak’s tirade against the city’s leader went on a little longer. But we have confirmation of sorts that she did use those choice words in the heat of the moment.

Lawmakers fear election rout in Hong Kong extradition bill backlash

There was a tête-à-tête between lawmaker Christopher Cheung Wah-fung, who represents the financial services sector, and Anthony Neoh SC at the Independent Police Complaints Council where Neoh is chairman. Both men thought the microphones were off, so Cheung spilled the beans.

Cheung: You know the girl, the one who said XXX to Lam Cheng, was Mak Mei-kuen.

Neoh: In Legco?

Cheung: No, in Lam’s residence, the … what do you call it … Government House.

Neoh: To say such a thing for a lawmaker? And a lady at that?

Actually, swearing in public is not that unusual for pan-democrat lawmakers, but rarer for government-friendly legislators. Still, Mak’s outburst was understandable.

Lam called the meeting to tell her faithful followers that she would suspend the extradition bill indefinitely barely 24 hours before the official announcement. Many of them, such as Mak, were caught off guard; they were promoting the bill and promising no U-turn to their constituents up to that very day.

They had wasted much political capital on the bill and will pay a heavy price in November’s district council elections. And some like Mak can kiss goodbye any chance at re-election in Legco next year. The federation has five seats in Legco.

Thanks to the extradition bill, they may well lose all three directly elected, or geographical, seats, though they may retain the two functional constituency seats for the labour sector. To put it crudely, in the manners of Mak, she is toast, and she knows it.

Farce aside, there is a very serious problem stemming from Lam’s climbdown for the pro-government bloc. She has betrayed their loyalty and made many of them unelectable.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Betrayed Lam loyalists to pay price at polls
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