Carrie Lam marks 100 days as Hong Kong’s chief executive with progress report
HK’s new leader releases progress report of the government’s work so far, but public outlook tells us more
Lam is learning to harness the power of social media and posted a video on her Facebook page yesterday in addition to the press conference she held.Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor gave a speech to mark 100 days as Hong Kong’s chief executive at a press conference yesterday.
Lam presented a progress report of her work so far, listing more than 70 projects which have begun since she became leader on July 1.
She said that while some policies have already been put in place, others need to be looked at more closely for improvement. But exact details will be revealed in the 2018 Policy Address, to be released today.
“It is difficult to evaluate Lam’s performance until we know what’s in the Policy Address and people’s reactions towards it,” Professor Ma Ngok from the Chinese University of Hong Kong told Young Post.
But Ngok added that the general outlook of the public was a useful way to measure how well Lam is doing.
“If we looked at the dominating societal responses on what happened recently, such as the banning of lawmakers from Hong Kong’s Legislative Council and the political imprisonment of three Occupy activists, the public discontent suggests that she hasn’t done enough.”
He said it was important for Lam to address the public’s feelings because “the people’s perception of her and the government depends hugely on the political and social climate”.
The work progress report released yesterday highlights government action over the past 100 days, such as the fact that Lam (pictured) and secretaries of departments have paid more than 50 visits to various districts across Hong Kong to meet district council members.
Lam is serving her first term as Hong Kong’s chief executive. Tung Chee-hwa, Donald Tsang Yam-kuen and Leung Chun-ying have previously held the position.
In honour of her three-and-a-half-months in office, Lam posted a one-minute video on her Facebook page on Monday. It included photos from events in Hong Kong and China, such as when she became CE and the work being done on Hong Kong’s new West Kowloon MTR line.