Hong Kong: Government paralysis continues after electoral debacle

AFTER a peaceful two- week hiatus, during which Hong Kong held district council elections that saw pro- democracy candidates win a stunning victory by capturing 87 percent of the seats and 17 of the 18 councils, violence returned to the streets following the refusal of the Carrie Lam administration to ease its hard-line stance.

Last Tuesday (November 26), at her first post-election media session, Chief Executive Lam said she had withdrawn the extradition bill, which had sparked massive protests, and would not concede to other demands. The withdrawal of the Fugitives Offenders Bill came after 12 weeks of increasingly violent protests, preceded by two peaceful marches of a million or more people.

By then, there were four other demands from protesters, including a commission of inquiry to look into police actions, an amnesty for those arrested, withdrawal of the characterization of “rioting” for disturbances on June 12, and universal suffrage. A commission of inquiry has also been proposed by former chief justice Andrew Li, the Bar Association, various chambers of commerce and a whole slew of respectable organizations.

Chief Executive Lam in September announced four actions — including withdrawal of the bill — as a response to the protesters’ demands.

Instead of a commission of inquiry, she said, a body called the Independent Police Complaints Council (IPCC) would look into complaints against the police.

Another action was a dialogue with the community.

Finally, the chief executive said “community leaders, professionals and academics” would be invited to “independently examine and review society’s deep-seated problems and to advise the gov

Three months later, the government has little to show for its efforts. The chief executive held one dialogue in September with 150 randomly selected participants at a stadium in Wanchai, but there has been no follow up.

The committee to examine Hong Kong’s deep-seated problems has yet to be formed.

advisory panel of overseas experts from Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand has been formed. In a progress report last month, the experts concluded that “structural limitations in the scope and powers of the IPCC inquiry remain, inhibiting its ability to establish a coherent and representative body of evidence.”

The group felt that it might be able to provide an interim report to pave the way for future action, including a more comprehensive inquiry by “an independent body with requisite powers,” that commission of inquiry.

The government responded by saying it would study recommendations made by the IPCC after the body submits its report in January. It seems the Lam administration is unable to take resolute action and would only consider doing so when pressed by a committee of its own creation.

If the government had acted in July, it could have avoided the is, a