City Beat | Hong Kong’s cabinet reshuffle is ‘ebb and flow by the moon’ of leaders needed to steer the city out of crisis

Now comes judgment day for Carrie Lam’s governing team, and public expectations are still the same or even higher – people are looking for change and hope

New civil service chief may have been in spotlight, but switch at key Home Affairs Bureau is more telling: city needs a person of action in role

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Heated debate on the boundaries of Beijing’s ‘supervisory role’ under ‘one country, two systems’ will go on in Hong Kong. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 6:36pm, 26 Apr 2020Updated: 10:58pm, 26 Apr 2020

As Shakespeare’s King Lear put it, those in power, as great as they may be, tend to “ebb and flow by the moon”.

Those old words of wisdom still apply in today’s context, with officials who come and go as circumstances change. In that sense, it’s not surprising that Hong Kong’s government has just gone through a major reshuffle involving five ministers in Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s cabinet.

The reshuffle was seen as coming rather late, as debate on a much-needed injection of new blood into the embattled leader’s administration started months ago, as the city last summer was engulfed by its worst-ever political crisis, triggered by Lam’s now-shelved extradition bill. The Covid-19 pandemic also contributed to the delay.

Now comes judgment day, with new faces, some of them younger, in Lam’s governing team, and public expectations still the same or even higher – Hongkongers are looking for change and hope.

A government reshuffle is natural in response to any crisis – just look at the leadership overhaul in the mainland Chinese province of Hubei and its capital city Wuhan, the original epicentre of the pandemic, and the constant revolving door of appointments to US President Donald Trump’s core team.

But in the case of Hong Kong, the new cabinet line-up was not for Lam to decide by herself, and Beijing had the final say under the city’s mini-constitution. The Basic Law stipulates that principal officials must be appointed by the central government, though based on the recommendation of the chief executive.

What message can be derived from this latest round of musical chairs? Let’s take a look at the “chairs” that were moved around.