Regina Ip lacks passion, personal touch in chief executive election campaign launch, Hong Kong analysts say
Contender for city’s top job did not mention personal history or family feedback for decision to join race but dwelled instead on policy details
Chief executive contender Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee came across as less of a passionate politician promising fresh leadership and more of an official dwelling on policy.
That was the analysis by some political observers who watched the launch of her election campaign and felt she should have tried to impress with a personal touch, rather than reading out walls of text.
Watch: Regina Ip announces chief executive bid
During her 45-minute speech at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai, Ip made no mention of her personal history or family feedback to explain her decision to throw her hat in the ring.
Instead, the New People’s Party lawmaker went straight into the details of nine policy areas ranging from land supply and public finance to education, and even called for rules to limit lawmakers’ filibusters, reminiscent of her signature monologues during Legislative Council debates.
“I watched it on TV and found her presentation boring,” said Joseph Wong Wing-ping, retired civil service minister and Ip’s cabinet colleague under former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa.
There was no enthusiastic reaction from the crowd of 200 or so supporters throughout the 45 minutes. Some of her backers on stage had their eyes closed.
It was only during the subsequent question-and-answer session with the media that she put on the charm, drawing laughter when she asked if her coat was looking “pretty”.
Chinese University political scientist Ivan Choy Chi-keung said Ip lacked emotional appeal.
“Politicians usually highlight why they dream of joining an election,” he said.
Ip’s campaign slogan also attracted mockery online.
In the Chinese version of “Win Back Hong Kong”, the lower half of the character for “win”, or yeng, was removed and became the English letters of “win”. The remaining upper half of yeng, however, could be associated with “death”, culture critic Matthias Woo said.
But semantics and sentiment aside, a bigger problem for Ip would be her apparent inability to draw big names to show their support, Choy said.
Of those onstage, only two were lawmakers, both from her New People’s Party. The other legislator who attended was Beijing loyalist Paul Tse Wai-chun.
By already adopting what her critics saw as the “hardline” approach – including her vow to stick to Beijing’s restrictive framework on universal suffrage and relaunch national security legislation – Wong said Ip would not be able to show she could maintain a friendly relationship with pan-democratic lawmakers.
From the business side, Pansy Ho Chiu-king, daughter of gaming tycoon Stanley Ho Hung-sun, turned up but did not pledge support.
Ip also raised journalists’ eyebrows when she answered in Cantonese to a TVB reporter’s question in English. She appeared unaware about her wrong choice of language.
One of her election platforms was also found to contain false information. Under the category of sports, she proposed that Hong Kong host the 2021 National Games. But the State Council had already decided last year that the annual athletic games would be held in Shaanxi province.
