Opinion | Extradition debacle proves Hong Kong’s government needs a radical shake-up to change the way it thinks and acts

The Hong Kong government’s drive to amend its fugitive offenders legislation, better known as the extradition bill, has morphed into the special administrative region’s most critical political crisis since its establishment. Mass protests, which started on June 9, culminated in unprecedented violent attacks on the Legislative Council building on July 1, which are likely to put the legislature out of action for months.

There are calls for heads to roll, the withdrawal of the bill already declared dead by the government, and an amnesty for young people who broke the law, but these will not lift Hong Kong out of its abyss. The mishandling of the bill has revealed that the machinery for governance is all but broken. And this is not something that universal suffrage alone can fix.

From the bill’s introduction to the public — lumped together with two other major announcements — the government’s handling of the issue has shown its reluctance to engage in open debate on the merits and demerits of its proposals.

During Occupy Central, the police deployed an officer, fondly nicknamed “Four O’clock Hui Sir”, to give daily situation reports and answer questions. Hong Kong’s first chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, also created the senior post of information coordinator in his office to give weekly briefings.

But the current administration has apparently given up on public communication. Its senior officials appear to prefer off-the-record briefings or leaks to selected media outlets rather than open, face-to-face encounters. The administration’s chief communication channel with the media is the chief executive’s weekly session before the Executive Council’s meeting on Tuesday morning.