Admissions of past failings a good sign for Hong Kong’s future
- Hong Kong’s failure to contain the pandemic revealed a government tied up in its own red tape, unable to make the right decisions and mobilise resources
- Reforming governance will be a challenge for the next chief executive, and ‘result-oriented’ John Lee could perhaps start with the simple stuff
Most important is the vow to take stock of these failings. Nip said reviews must be conducted on how mechanisms and procedures could be enhanced.
It wasn’t very long ago that this city prided itself on its “first class”, professional and highly efficient civil service. But when Dr Liang Wannian, head of the Covid Response Expert Team of the National Health Commission, was in the city to lend a hand to our struggle during the fifth wave, he found a lack of synergy.
Our government is shackled by its procedures and mechanisms, its hands tied by its own red tape. The outcome is an inefficient and ineffective Leviathan that couldn’t even identify what the public needed, let alone know how to deliver these services.
Many businesses simply couldn’t make it through this fifth wave. That, too, is one of the “direct consequences” of the “gaps and delays” in the government’s anti-Covid strategy. Hongkongers have lost confidence in the government’s ability to make the right decisions and to mobilise resources.
That the city’s political elite are ready for a dose of reality is a good sign. The burdens of everyday life for ordinary Hongkongers have taken a toll. As orchestrated as Lee’s campaign exercises in public engagement are, he must take the time to see and hear what’s happening when the cameras aren’t rolling.
Alice Wu is a political consultant and a former associate director of the Asia Pacific Media Network at UCLA