Carrie Lam’s epic policy address reveals a sobering truth about Hong Kong

In an address lasting more than two hours, Lam presented a string of policy ideas that failed to connect with a society facing unprecedented challenges
Even now, her government is scrambling to control the spread of the Covid-19 fourth wave

Alice Wu

Published: 4:30pm, 29 Nov 2020

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If we had to pick one word to describe the policy address that Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor delivered last week, I would go with “sobering”.

Following the eleventh-hour delay to the annual policy speech on the lame excuse that Lam needed to secure Beijing’s support for policy measures, and then the lawmaker disqualification drama that led to the mass resignation of all but two opposition legislators, the policy address itself turned out to be a complete disappointment.

We had scaled back expectations to begin with, but little did we expect an anticlimactic speech lasting a punishing 135 minutes. Much like how people are going “revenge shopping” after lockdowns, was Lam giving a “revenge address”?

Lam had in the past been heckled by the opposition. Last year she tried and failed twice to deliver the address, and had to resort to releasing a pre-recorded video of the speech. Perhaps as “revenge” for that, she gave us an earful – 30,000 words of nothing new, exciting or inspiring.

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Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam delivers 2020 policy address

Back in 2017, Lam had broken with tradition by keeping her maiden policy address short and delivering only the highlights. Now, she has gone back to the old ways of previous administrations; her predecessor Leung Chun-ying’s final policy address, in 2017, clocked two-and-a-half hours. Lam’s speech last week proved to be difficult even for one of her own – Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang Kwok-wai – to stay awake for.

Lam made it clear that she was not going to back down on Lantau Tomorrow Vision , her most ambitious plan yet and a supposed policy centrepiece of her government. Unveiled in 2018, the plan is touted as a game-changing solution to the housing problem that no chief executive before her had cracked.

Hong Kong must not be misled about Lantau Tomorrow Vision

But the issues raised by the critics of this grand vision – its affordability, necessity and impact on the environment – have yet to be addressed. And nagging at the back of a lot of minds, of course, is the fact that the last time Lam stuck to her guns, it triggered the worst social unrest in this city since 1997.

Other recycled ideas include sending the young across the border, extending public transport schemes and, most notably, saving Ocean Park by turning the surrounding neighbourhood into a leisure “hub” – an idea borrowed from her predecessors.

Cyberport was meant to be a hub of technology and innovation but turned out to be more successful as a residential project. Lam is trying to get Shenzhen to let us lease and manage part of its Innovation and Technology Zone, which speaks volumes about how our own IT hub in Pok Fu Lam panned out.

Lam even repeated the “sentimental remarks” she had made on July 1 about Beijing’s trust in her.

Surreally, the chief executive set a target of zero Covid-19 infections, even as the fourth wave spread. It had been clear for some time that the outbreak cluster in the dancing community was driving the current wave of infections, and yet the Home Affairs Department did not get around to suspending dancing and singing classes in community halls and centres until the day after the policy address.

By now, it should be obvious why the city is not entering a full lockdown: it would simply be too much for this government to handle.

So Lam’s speech was both sleep-inducing and sobering. Covid-19 has ripped the mask off the state Hong Kong is in: we can’t get the job done; we are sending our talent away; our travel bubble has burst. Hong Kong is no longer the goose that lays the golden eggs. Losing Beijing’s trust and then needing Beijing to step in doesn’t exactly help our case.

Mrs Lam, please just focus on one thing right now: fighting Covid-19.

Alice Wu is a political consultant and a former associate director of the Asia Pacific Media Network at UCLA

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Policy address reveals sobering truth about city

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