Carrie Lam has to go, and the next chief executive must resolve Article 23 and universal suffrage in Hong Kong

The longer Lam stays in office, the more of a drag she’ll be for Beijing. It would be better for her to go soon, and for the central government to start thinking about how to address the issues behind the mass protests

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Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s apologies for her handling of the extradition agreement have done nothing to placate critics who want her gone. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Published: 4:30pm, 30 Jun 2019Updated: 10:57am, 1 Jul 2019

I hope by the time you’re reading this, this city’s leader has finally come out of hiding. And by that, I’m talking about a real public appearance, as opposed to having her office issue statements about who she has met. After all, July 1, the day we celebrate the 22nd anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is upon us.

For the last two weeks, this city’s “leaders” intentionally went missing so as not to stoke the flames out on the street, but we descended deeper and deeper into lawlessness, with protesters all but allowed to put government offices and police headquarters under siege.

So law enforcement has, once again, been left on the receiving end of the public’s grievances, and like burning ants put under the magnifying glass, took all the heat and abuse for a lame-duck government.

It is indeed mind-boggling what is keeping Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor in office as chief executive. After the devastating damage she has inflicted on her administration and Hong Kong, there is little hope – if any – that she will recover from this.

She needed to stay put but be out of sight for days leading up to the G20 summit because, frankly, she is cramping President Xi Jinping’s style. That’s the sort of achievement no chief executive before her had accomplished. Overnight, Hong Kong has reached rock-star status – we are certainly not just an ordinary Chinese city.

The people of Hong Kong have sent a message by taking out full-page ads in foreign newspapers. Lam has single-handedly catapulted this city onto the stage of global politics. Unfortunately, Hong Kong is now in the line of fire – showing up at the wrong place and at the wrong time.

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