Hong Kong picks first female leader
Critics say new HK boss is pro-Beijing
HONG KONG: A committee dominated by pro-Beijing elites chose Hong Kong’s next leader in the first vote since huge pro-democracy protests erupted over the election system in 2014.
Carrie Lam, the government’s former No. 2 official and Beijing’s favoured candidate, received 777 votes and will become the first female leader for the city and its fourth since British colonial control ended in 1997.
China’s Communist leadership had lobbied behind the scenes for Lam, so her victory came as no surprise. After the votes were counted, Lam bowed to the crowd and shook hands with second-place finisher, former finance secretary John Tsang, who received 365 votes.
Some pro-democracy supporters in the official seating area yelled slogans and held up a yellow umbrella, the symbol of the 2014 protests, as the results were announced. The elite election committee was at the root of the protests as activists decried the lack of a direct choice by Hong Kong’s 3.8 million registered voters.
Lam is an efficient and pragmatic administrator, but unpopular because she is seen as a proxy for Beijing and out of touch with the ordinary people.
Tsang, in contrast, is highly popular because of his easygoing persona and deft use of social media. He has been nicknamed “Pringles” or “Uncle Chips” in Cantonese for his signature moustache that draws comparisons to the snack food mascot and his followers call themselves “small potatoes.”
As the next leader of the Asian financial centre, Lam would inherit a city split by political divisions and saddled with sluggish economic growth.
Many fear that Beijing is tightening control and undermining the “one country, two systems” framework that guarantees Hong Kong high autonomy.
“My priority will be to heal the divide, ease the frustrations and to unite our society to move forward,” she said. — AP
HONG KONG: Carrie Lam, who won an election to become Hong Kong’s first female chief executive is a former student activist who climbed the rungs of the civil service for over 36 years, and a tough, capable and possibly divisive Beijing- backed leader.
Lam, 59, most recently Hong Kong’s number two official, has to unify the Chineseruled city as public resentment swells at Beijing’s growing interference in its affairs despite being promised a high degree of autonomy.
She also has to reinvigorate
the economy and address growing social inequalities and high property prices.
Several sources who have worked with Lam say she’s intelligent, hardworking and able to push controversial government policies, earning her the trust of Beijing factions who strongly lobbied for votes on her behalf.
But her hardline and pro-Beijing tendencies, say critics and opposition democrats, risk sowing further social divisions in the former British colony that returned to China 20 years ago under a “one country, two systems” formula that guarantees it wide-ranging freedoms.
“Carrie Lam ... is a nightmare for Hong Kong,” said student activist Joshua Wong, 20, one of the leaders of the student-led “Umbrella Movement” protests in 2014 which blocked the streets for 79 days demanding full democracy.
“Theoretically, the chief executive is a bridge between the central government and the Hong Kong people. But Lam will be a tilted bridge. She will only tell us what Beijing wants, and won’t reflect what the people want to the communist regime.”
Lam, dubbed “the fighter” by media, was once the most popular official in the Cabinet of staunchly pro-Beijing incumbent chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, who in 2012 won a similar election restricted to just 1,200 voters.
“Picking Carrie as chief secretary was Leung’s best appointment,” said a senior government official who declined to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
But she could also sometimes be a “bully”, he added.