https://www.scmp.com/rss/323730/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor may be right to say that Hong Kong is staring down an abyss. She could well blame the protesters if Hong Kong should indeed fall into the chasm. But could she honestly say she has done everything she could to stop the fall? Sad to say, but Mrs Lam has failed the people of Hong Kong, whom she had sworn to serve. She misjudged public sentiment and proposed the failed extradition bill. She then failed to hear the pleas of the people to launch an... https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3030346/hong-kong-protests-carrie-lam-has-failed-govern-and-should-resign?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3030346/hong-kong-protests-carrie-lam-has-failed-govern-and-should-resign?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Sep 2019 23:30:11 +0000 Hong Kong chief executive-elect Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has certainly kept herself very busy. There is, of course, the very important work of getting her governing team together, but Lam has got that under control. Even if the “race” was, for all intents and purposes, “predetermined”, now that the dust has settled, it would be wise perhaps for us to refrain from making prejudgments. Lam is most probably not going to enjoy a honeymoon period, something that is becoming less of a political... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2083794/hong-kongs-next-leader-carrie-lam-shows-she-has-mind-her-own?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2083794/hong-kongs-next-leader-carrie-lam-shows-she-has-mind-her-own?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 02 Apr 2017 01:01:57 +0000 Having won the chief executive election with a relatively high margin, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is wasting no time gearing up for the challenges ahead. From meeting the heads of Hong Kong and mainland authorities to reaching out to the public, and from picking her new team to defining her governance style, Lam has a lot on her plate. Relations between Beijing and Hong Kong stand out as a key challenge. Constitutionally, the chief executive is accountable to the central government and Hong... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2083651/carrie-lams-success-depends-recognition-common-interests?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2083651/carrie-lams-success-depends-recognition-common-interests?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 30 Mar 2017 20:41:21 +0000 So, Hong Kong has a nickname for its newly elected leader, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor. It’s “777” – stemming from the number of ballots she secured from a small circle of 1,194 voters. Never ones to miss the slightest opportunity to play with phonetics and sexual innuendo, the sparkling wits about town have pounced on the number with absolute glee. The pronunciation of the word “seven” in Cantonese matches the slang for male genitalia. Forget the fact that, at the end of the day, we’re still... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2083454/777-lesson-numerology-those-who-hate-hong-kongs-new-leader?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2083454/777-lesson-numerology-those-who-hate-hong-kongs-new-leader?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 30 Mar 2017 07:34:13 +0000 I realise that there was a lot of cynicism about last Sunday’s chief executive election. We all know that the “small circle” voting process does not have widespread credibility in the community. However, as campaign director for the winning candidate, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, I can say that the run-up to the election involved a lot of hard work. Indeed, I think this was the case with all of the candidates’ campaigns. It was clear to us that we had to reach out not only to the Election... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2083425/hong-kongs-next-leader-carrie-lam-must-wow-her-doubters-not?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2083425/hong-kongs-next-leader-carrie-lam-must-wow-her-doubters-not?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 30 Mar 2017 05:07:24 +0000 Deception is a common survival strategy in nature as well as politics. What is less well-known is that self-deception, according to some sociobiologists, can also have adaptive value. This is especially true among humans living in an intensely competitive environment. We lie to ourselves in order to lie better to others. It’s those lies – more convincing because we believe them – that help achieve our hidden agendas. Reading some of the websites, blogs and newsprints of anti-government groups... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2082569/fool-others-pan-dems-are-fooling-themselves-first?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2082569/fool-others-pan-dems-are-fooling-themselves-first?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Mar 2017 17:59:23 +0000 Just the other day, a friend of mine asked me: “What do we get from this chief executive election?” It was a simple enough question, but it stunned me for a while. Yes, come to think of it, apart from getting a new leader, what do we get from this election? Or more to the point, what can we expect from our new chief executive that may be different from what we got from the last three? If you look back over the course of the election campaign, you cannot but come to the dreaded conclusion that... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2081799/election-over-hong-kong-must-try-again-agree-political?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2081799/election-over-hong-kong-must-try-again-agree-political?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Mar 2017 08:01:27 +0000 One thing is for sure after the chief executive election: Hong Kong will be even more divided. This city has lost the art of compromise. The pan-democrats, with their knee-jerk reaction that “anyone Beijing favours, we oppose”, have demonised Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor while John Tsang Chun-wah, as her foil, has all the virtues. Now is the time to forget the labels and ask what kind of leader Hong Kong needs. The deep divisions cannot be wished away by smiles and good public relations vibes. We... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2081836/leader-hong-kong-needs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2081836/leader-hong-kong-needs?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 25 Mar 2017 03:33:13 +0000 Anew chapter in Hong Kong’s history begins tomorrow, with the election of the city’s next leader. During the campaign, the three candidates have sparred in public debates and stressed their relative merits. But it is after the election that the real work will begin. The new leader will face great challenges and must have the qualities needed to lead Hong Kong to a better future. Former chief secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is the strong favourite, having received Beijing’s backing. She... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2082034/chance-city-move-and-prosper?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2082034/chance-city-move-and-prosper?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 24 Mar 2017 19:16:28 +0000 As we look towards the rather bland, preordained chief executive election this Sunday in Hong Kong, let’s think about the election we could be having. Had the pan-democratic camp accepted Beijing’s constrained electoral system set out on August 31, 2014, this election would have been far more competitive, popular attention much stronger, the candidates’ links to the citizenry much closer, the extent of democracy deeper, and the potential impact for Hong Kong and China so much greater. Beijing... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2081575/chief-executive-election-hong-kong-could-have-had?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2081575/chief-executive-election-hong-kong-could-have-had?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 24 Mar 2017 02:42:08 +0000 The support of Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-shing, and his sons for Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor could be the last nail in the coffin for her rival John Tsang Chun-wah’s campaign to be chief executive. For weeks, there had been speculation that Li is a supporter of Tsang’s and that he and his sons may cast their vote for him in the secret ballot on Sunday to select Hong Kong’s next leader. People in favour of the former financial secretary had hoped that support from the Li family could... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2080420/carrie-lam-presumed-next-leader-hong-kong-no-clone-divisive?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2080420/carrie-lam-presumed-next-leader-hong-kong-no-clone-divisive?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 Mar 2017 09:16:42 +0000 Just as it has been said that every financial crisis is different, so the dynamics of Hong Kong’s chief executive elections have varied greatly every five years they have been held. The first two chief executives were elected in a relatively uneventful way. The race became dramatically more competitive in 2012 when then Executive Council convenor Leung Chun-ying led an insurgency within the pro-establishment camp against the front runner, former chief secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen, and won. Once... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2079823/chinas-might-and-hong-kongs-autonomy-can-carrie-lam-find?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2079823/chinas-might-and-hong-kongs-autonomy-can-carrie-lam-find?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 18 Mar 2017 05:30:22 +0000 When Kellyanne Conway, current counsellor to the President of the US, joined the Trump campaign last year she remarked to the candidate Donald Trump “that he should be polling stronger because he was running against a joyless candidate.” In Hong Kong’s race for Chief Executive, we are confronted with joyless candidates, joyless policies and a joyless election. A long suffering and forgotten section of the population yearns for solutions, with or without democratic elections. Yet only the... https://www.scmp.com/business/money/article/2078219/how-should-hong-kong-drain-swamp?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/money/article/2078219/how-should-hong-kong-drain-swamp?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 Mar 2017 23:45:26 +0000 You can’t fault chief executive candidate Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee for ignoring the symptoms, misdiagnosing the malady and shying away from the treatment for what plagues Hong Kong’s economy. As a former government official and current Legislative Council representative, she offers the unique and frank insight of both an insider and outsider. It increasingly appears that the mission of Hong Kong’s future chief executive is to manage the expectations of a diminishing economy. Or perhaps the... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2069809/can-worn-out-themes-solve-hong-kongs-real-economic-woes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2069809/can-worn-out-themes-solve-hong-kongs-real-economic-woes?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 10 Feb 2017 06:11:08 +0000 The former financial secretary also called for a review to look into introducing a two-tier progressive profits tax to lessen the burden on small and medium-sized enterprises and a negative income tax that would help low income groups. SCMP, February 7 Politics generally bores me, but let’s give credit where credit is due to one of the political masterstrokes of the age. British diplomats have known from their monarchical history since the Magna Carta proclamation 800 years ago what a mess can... https://www.scmp.com/business/money/wealth/article/2069129/appeal-tax-overhaul-rise-above-placard-waving-populism?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/money/wealth/article/2069129/appeal-tax-overhaul-rise-above-placard-waving-populism?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 08 Feb 2017 07:44:41 +0000 As the chief executive race heats up in Hong Kong, it is important to discuss the role of young people in the political arena. For certain, 2016 was a year marked with extremes – from the rise of Donald Trump in the United States, to the “Brexit” vote in the UK to leave the European Union, and here in Hong Kong, the support for localists in the Legislative Council election. Now, 2017 is gearing up to be another year full of political intensity, especially for this city. Indeed, whoever is... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2061866/time-hong-kongs-young-and-old-unite-better-future?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2061866/time-hong-kongs-young-and-old-unite-better-future?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 14 Jan 2017 01:02:55 +0000 With no public consultation, no competitive bids and zero transparency, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor declared that a 10,000 square metre museum would be built at the West Kowloon arts hub, to display relics from Beijing’s Palace Museum in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover. Her sudden announcement last month took the public by surprise and has drawn widespread criticism. At the centre of the controversy is the complete lack of public consultation on the project. Rather... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2061545/hong-kongs-palace-museum-plan-throws-out-rulebook-put?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2061545/hong-kongs-palace-museum-plan-throws-out-rulebook-put?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Jan 2017 03:54:12 +0000 The political changes in Hong Kong of late are a strong reminder that a week is a long time in politics. Last Friday, Leung Chun-ying announced that he would not seek a second term in the upcoming chief executive election. The decision came out of the blue; even Leung himself and the central government’s liaison office only received the direct order from Beijing the day before. Leung cited “family reasons” when he dropped the bombshell, attributing it to his recently hospitalised daughter. It is... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2054877/hong-kong-leadership-battle-will-carrie-lam-inherit-leung?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2054877/hong-kong-leadership-battle-will-carrie-lam-inherit-leung?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 15 Dec 2016 08:44:57 +0000 If you want to know why Beijing refused to budge on the failed political reform last year, the latest election committee polls offer an answer. Then, a key issue was the central government’s insistence that the nominating committee must have the same sector composition as that of the election committee. Even with its current structure, the voting for the committee on Sunday unexpectedly produced a large number of non-establishment winners. The pan-democratic/non-establishment groups made inroads... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2054292/beijing-and-art-surprise-free-elections?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2054292/beijing-and-art-surprise-free-elections?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 Dec 2016 16:45:45 +0000 With the Hong Kong chief executive election drawing near, pan-democrats had been calling for “ABC”: “Anyone but CY”. Now that Leung Chun-ying has declared he won’t be seeking a second term, pan-democrats are claiming victory in this leg of the struggle. But many warn that another CY could be elected. From day one, Leung was the straw man, to be jeered, labelled a wolf and ridiculed, and blamed for almost every ill. He is held responsible for the polarisation of Hong Kong, but polarisation is not... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2054176/blame-adversarial-politics-not-leung-chun-ying-hong-kongs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2054176/blame-adversarial-politics-not-leung-chun-ying-hong-kongs?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 Dec 2016 06:45:30 +0000 The curtain for the chief executive race has been formally raised following the establishment of the Election Committee yesterday after Sunday’s vote for committee members. The record 46 per cent turnout in the polls has helped the pan-democrats secure 326 of the committee’s 1,200 seats, the highest number for the camp ever and giving them a stronger influence in the process of choosing the city’s new leader. But more political heavyweights may yet come forward, with Chief Secretary Carrie Lam... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2054007/interests-city-must-be-paramount-election-committee?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2054007/interests-city-must-be-paramount-election-committee?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 12 Dec 2016 16:30:30 +0000 In early March 2005, rumours were rife in Hong Kong that embattled chief executive Tung Chee-hwa was about to step down. When asked, however, Hong Kong delegates gathered in Beijing for the annual meetings of the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference brushed aside the media speculation, calling Tung a man of determination who would press on despite his flagging public popularity. After all, his supporters reasoned, Beijing strongly backed him. A... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2053871/after-leung-chun-ying-beijing-doesnt-need-another-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2053871/after-leung-chun-ying-beijing-doesnt-need-another-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 12 Dec 2016 09:30:15 +0000 If Plato is right that the only people who should rule are those who don’t want to, then Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is miles ahead of the other chief executive wannabes. It would be hard to find a more mournful public figure announcing she might reconsider her intention to retire and run for the top job after all. Watching her on television, I thought she was on the verge of tears. Watch: Leung Chun-ying will not seek a second term She said Leung Chun-ying’s shock announcement not to seek a... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2053772/why-carrie-lam-beijings-real-preference-chief-executive?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2053772/why-carrie-lam-beijings-real-preference-chief-executive?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 11 Dec 2016 17:45:30 +0000 Voters in the Election Committee polls found themselves in a quandary on Sunday, being unable to tell whom their chosen candidates would back in the eventual chief executive election. That was because key potential contenders for the post have yet to make formal bids. Only retired judge Woo Kwok-hing has declared his desire to run for the top job. Left with no clear answers on their candidates’ voting intentions, voters said they referred to the candidates’ political ideology. The voting... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2053769/year-hong-kong-electing-electors-proves-relative-stab-dark?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2053769/year-hong-kong-electing-electors-proves-relative-stab-dark?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 11 Dec 2016 16:45:45 +0000 Here’s a multi-million dollar question: is it wise to buy a “capsule” flat measuring no more than 200 sq ft that will cost an arm and a leg? At a recent public function, I bumped into Paul Chan Mo-po, the development minister whose top priority is to look for land for the government to meet its housing targets. We chatted about the collective headache of the entire city – owning a home – and touched on a hot topic: the apparent proliferation of tiny little flats in Hong Kong’s property market... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/2053692/whoever-leads-hong-kong-next-will-find-housing-thorniest-issue?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/2053692/whoever-leads-hong-kong-next-will-find-housing-thorniest-issue?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 11 Dec 2016 10:30:00 +0000 Now that the so-called ABC campaign – “Anyone but CY” – is a non-issue, how long can seemingly non-committal potential candidates for the 2017 chief executive election hold out? The charade of pretending not to be a chief executive wannabe is tiresome. It’s outright deceptive, in fact, when aspirants do little to douse the flames that fuel the speculation. With Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying ruling himself out of the race, there are still two possible candidates holding on to their government... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2053287/hong-kong-chief-executive-aspirants-should-stop-being-coy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2053287/hong-kong-chief-executive-aspirants-should-stop-being-coy?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 11 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000