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Opinion | John Lee’s 100-day report card: B for a strong start but policy address must aim for an A
- Lee’s efforts in dealing with controversial civil servant pay rises and, in particular, rolling back Covid-19 curbs and boosting events has won local support
- But will he be bold enough to open up the city further to attract the tourists, tech talent and investors that Hong Kong badly needs?
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Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu completed his first 100 days in office on Saturday. It might seem a little harsh to start judging his performance so soon, but it is a tough job and time and tide wait for no man. He has had time to get his feet under the desk, so it is not unreasonable to make an assessment. He still has over 1,700 days remaining, so there is ample opportunity to correct any areas of weakness.
His first big decision concerned the annual civil service pay adjustment. The Pay Trend Survey Committee had recommended increases ranging from just over 2 per cent for junior staff to more than 7 per cent for senior officers.
The results were very controversial: civil servants felt they had done a good job during the pandemic and deserved an increase, but the private sector was aghast. Given the economic environment, the normally supportive Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce spoke out strongly against it. For reasons still not entirely clear, the previous administration sat on the issue for several weeks and then ducked making a decision.
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Lee quickly resolved the matter with a commonsense 2.5 per cent across-the-board increase. This proved a useful precedent for dealing with domestic helper pay later.
But, it is in the context of Covid-19 policy that the new government has made the most impact. Within days of taking office, Lee scrapped the flight suspension mechanism, which banned airline routes found to have carried a set number of incoming passengers infected with Covid-19. Why this was ever introduced, and how it lingered so long, remain mysteries. In one fell swoop, a system that produced such unreasonable outcomes was gone. The dismal daily press briefings have also disappeared.
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Hong Kong ends mandatory hotel quarantine for arrivals under ’0+3' plan
Hong Kong ends mandatory hotel quarantine for arrivals under ’0+3' plan
Most dramatic have been the quarantine changes. Seven days in a quarantine hotel was first cut to three, plus a further four days of medical surveillance, and is now down to “0+3”. These improvements have been widely welcomed by the local community. People feel able to travel for the first time in nearly three years without onerous and expensive quarantine requirements on their return.
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