Opinion | As national security law looms, here’s what is really ailing Hong Kong politics

Name: A year of anti-government protests in Hong Kong
Uploaded: 2020-06-28T06:30:14.000Z
Duration: 8 min 47 s
Description: A year of anti-government protests in Hong Kong

The simple truth is that the administration knows how to administer but not how to govern. The opposition knows how to obstruct but not how to work the system to get things done. This is a case of chronic immaturity syndrome

Reading Time:3 minutes

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Opposition lawmaker Raymond Chan Chi-chuen (centre) struggles with security staff at a Legislative Council meeting last month, a sight which has become all too common in Hong Kong. Photo: Dickson Lee

Mike Rowse

Published: 2:30pm, 28 Jun 2020Updated: 9:04pm, 28 Jun 2020

The Hong Kong body politic has a serious underlying health condition that makes our city particularly vulnerable to political viruses. Assuming we survive the national security flu outbreak, we will still need to go back and address the underlying problem.

The simple truth is that our administration knows how to administer but not to govern. The opposition knows how to obstruct but not how to work the system to get things done. In short, we have a bad case of chronic immaturity syndrome.

The latest political estrangement began early last year with the government’s attempt to ram through a major piece of legislation with just 20 days of public consultation.

It supported its course of action with two dubious assertions: “Only with this comprehensive reform can we send the suspect back to Taiwan” (untrue, there is a mechanism for one-off extraditions); “the case is urgent as the suspect could flee Hong Kong” (incorrect, the mechanism could be operated before his release from custody).

When one million people marched in the street in early June last year to show their disapproval of the proposed extradition bill, the administration had no idea what to do. Its first instinct was to ignore this and attempt to crash on.

08:47

A year of anti-government protests in Hong Kong

The students prevented enactment by surrounding the Legislative Council building, and a few days later, there was an even bigger demonstration to celebrate.

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