Source:
https://scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3096321/hong-kong-national-security-law-stick-place-will-city-get-carrot
Comment/ Letters

Hong Kong national security law: the stick is in place, will city get the carrot?

  • Common sense suggests the carrot of universal suffrage should be introduced to heal the divisions
A banner saying: “I want universal suffrage”, hangs by the side of a block of flats in Tseung Kwan O in May 2016, during a visit to Hong Kong by a top mainland official. Photo: Nora Tam

On July 28, the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (PORI) released a survey which found that satisfaction with the Hong Kong government was at 19 per cent while Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s approval rating was 18 per cent. The chief executive is widely unpopular, yet she continues to hold the job.

This unpopularity is not entirely self-inflicted,however. Beijing has helpfully stabbed Lam a few times in the back, if rumours are true, by refusing to let her resign, refusing to allow any compromise with the initially peaceful protesters and, finally, by imposing the unpopular National Security Law and apparently forcing her to defend it even before the details were released. This, coupled with police action and a general lack of public relations savvy, has led to her poor approval rating.