Leung 'caught off guard' by national education row, Wu says

If the education bureau was slow to respond to protests against national education, it's no surprise, says the woman who played a key role in defusing the controversy this month.

In a recent postmortem interview with the South China Morning Post, Anna Wu Hung-yuk analysed the unfortunate mix of a "brand new" minister and "baggage-carrying" officials who reacted slowly. Wu was named chairwoman of the Committee on the Implementation of Moral and National Education on August 22.

She also urged Leung Chun-ying's administration to review its skills and methods of public engagement in future.

Wu, an executive councillor, said the government could have defused the crisis earlier, such as after the July 29 march that drew what organiser said was an estimated 90,000 people.

She said the Leung administration was caught off-guard because the national education course was planned by the previous administration.

"National education was one of the things that had already been set up, so the current government thought everything was in place. When it blew up, they were not prepared," she said.