Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam needs to be the public’s punching bag to quell anti-government protests, says former Legislative Council chief Jasper Tsang

Pro-Beijing heavyweight Jasper Tsang Yok-sing has called on Hong Kong’s leader and her top officials to raise their PR game and act as “punching bags” to ease public anger over the ongoing political crisis.

The former Legislative Council president spoke on a radio programme on Saturday after Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor invited all district councillors for talks at the government’s headquarters the following Wednesday, in a bid to reach out to members of the community as part of a four-pronged strategy to find solutions to the months-long political impasse.

Lam announced a package of four actions on September 4 to tackle social unrest unleashed by an extradition bill allowing transfers of criminal suspects to mainland China, among other jurisdictions, for trial. Lam has since suspended, and pledged to fully withdraw, the legislation, but protests – many ending in violent clashes with police – have rolled on for months.

As well as the bill’s withdrawal, the actions Lam proposed included the appointment of two new members to the Independent Police Complaints Council, a community-wide dialogue led by principal government officials and a study of deep-rooted problems in the city by experts and community leaders.

Tsang said the proposed direct dialogue would help, but added that the government needed to play catch-up in getting its message out to the public.

He said he agreed with someone who told Lam at a recent meeting: “You have to be a punching bag.”

Tsang continued: “There are a lot of grievances in society right now. If the top officials come out and get a public telling-off, it may help alleviate some anger felt by Hongkongers.”

He cited President Emmanuel Macron’s attempt to engage with the French public after the “yellow vest” protests, by holding more than 10,000 public meetings and forums in the space of two months.

“Some protesters who were not prepared to engage in serious dialogue also came and shouted at him, calling on him to step down. But at least it changed some perceptions of him being very arrogant and out of touch,” he said.

He noted that Lam had admitted on numerous occasions that the government’s PR work lagged that of the opposition.

Earlier this week, it was reported that Lam’s communications strategy was falling apart after she complained that six out of eight global PR companies had declined the government’s request for a worldwide outreach campaign, in a leaked tape of a conversation with business leaders in August.

Tsang said Glory to Hong Kong, the new protest anthem with anti-government lyrics which has spread online, showed the sophistication of the protesters’ propaganda. Hongkongers have sung the anthem in shopping malls and public parks this week, and during Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations on Friday. Meanwhile, supporters of the government have rewritten the lyrics into at least two new songs, Peace to Hong Kong and May the Truth Save Hong Kong.

Lam’s planned talks with local councillors came in for criticism from a member of her own cabinet on Saturday morning, when Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee publicly doubted how effective it would be.

Ip said each district council member would only get to air his or her views for a couple of minutes, and revealed some of her New People’s Party members had already rejected the “window dressing” dialogue. She said Lam would achieve more by going into communities to visit affected businesses and elderly care homes.

In a statement, the Civic Party also rejected Lam’s plan and said the government lacked sincerity, and all its councillors would boycott the meeting.

“The government only offers one two-hour meeting for some 400 district councillors in the city, giving them on average not longer than 16 seconds each,” the statement read. “The Civic Party believes the public opinion of ‘five demands, not one less’ is very clear, it is impossible that the government doesn’t understand that.”

Tsang said he would persuade his DAB party members to attend after reports of their lukewarm response emerged.

“You may fear staying too close to the government, which may drag you down,” he said. “But you can go and scold the government and express what you judge to be public opinion.”

Ivan Choy Chi-keung, a political scientist from Chinese University, said the government had to go ahead with the planned initiative, because backtracking now would only bring humiliation.

Hong Kong protesters take high ground for Mid-Autumn Festival

“They have raised expectations about the dialogue,” Choy said. “I hope they would listen sincerely to people’s views and move their red lines to accommodate some of the protesters demands.

“They can also expect to get some frank views from the public, and maybe they would then begin to understand the root cause of peoples’ discontent is political, not economic or social factors.”

Asked about calls for Lam to quit, Tsang said the city chief felt a duty to stay on and resolve the paralysis. “I think from Lam’s perspective, perhaps the easiest decision would be to quit. But she also has to think about where her responsibility lies.”

He said it was possible her resignation would calm public anger, but it would add uncertainty to the crisis. “If she just stands up and leaves, people may still ask her successor to respond to the five demands, ending in the same situation,” he said.

Tsang said the government needed to tackle structural issues, including the housing shortage, in the upcoming Policy Address. He said officials should seriously consider seizing private owners’ land, an idea floated by Tsang’s party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.

“If everybody is happy and content with life, not so many people will come out to protest,” he said. “So I think housing is a problem Lam’s administration really has to think about.”