Opinion | The writing was on the wall for Hong Kong’s extradition bill, so why did Carrie Lam’s cabinet fail to read it?

With their complete lack of understanding of public sentiment on the controversial extradition bill, the privileged members of the Executive Council have let down Carrie Lam, and possibly done serious damage to ‘one country, two systems’

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A woman writes a message next to anti-extradition notes taped to a wall near the Legislative Council in Hong Kong. Executive councillors’ misreading of public opinion might have hurt the Carrie Lam administration and “one country, two systems”. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 6:30am, 24 Jun 2019Updated: 6:33am, 24 Jun 2019

The Executive Council – the Hong Kong chief executive’s de facto cabinet – has thoroughly failed Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor. The political disaster that was the extradition bill is proof of its dysfunction. And while Lam is the one who is ultimately responsible for the failures of her government, she is no lone ranger.

Lam’s teammates – not just Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu and Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah, but others – must shoulder most of the blame.

Two non-official members of the Executive Council had the gall to go on air; one said that “I think we, in Exco, are also responsible.” You think? As a paid adviser to the chief executive, do you merely “think” you might have failed to do your job? This Exco member explained that she “really thought at that time 99.9 per cent of Hongkongers would not be affected by the bill.”

One, of course, does not need to be affected by the bill to have very strong feelings against it. But the Exco member’s failure to prevent the chief executive from seeking to push through the bill affects 99.9 per cent of Hongkongers.

The other Exco member revealed that he had expected Lam to bow during her apology; well, who cares what he expects? The bigger question is whether he had advised Lam to consider public sentiment or urged her to stand firm, as others did. But both Exco members admitted they had underestimated the negative public reaction to the bill.

Perhaps they should be thanked for their honesty, but it is flabbergasting to see how shameless they are about their complete failure in office. Are all of Lam’s teammates like them? It’s little wonder, then, that no one stopped her from pushing ahead with something as politically suicidal as the extradition bill.

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