Vijay Verghese

Opinion | As the coronavirus crisis creates common ground, Carrie Lam has a rare chance to bridge Hong Kong’s divide

Lam can form a bipartisan task force to tackle Covid-19 issues, start cross-aisle initiatives for, say, medical supplies, and plan long-term investment in education and pensions. To avert fresh upset, she should emphasis her government’s transitional nature

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Vijay Verghese

Published: 7:00am, 21 Mar 2020Updated: 7:51am, 21 Mar 2020

After Hong Kong declared a red travel alert over Covid-19, crowds have thinned and the once humming streets are largely empty. Schools are closed. Yet, amid the unruly stampedes for toilet paper, there is an opportunity for this beleaguered city.

With citizens’ focus distracted by health and economic fears, the government – while deeply unloved and seen as transitional – has a curious chance to bridge divides and revive the community.

Emergencies have a habit of creating common ground, bringing diverse or opposing groups together to face a bigger foe – and the novel coronavirus that has brought the world to its knees is a super threat by any reckoning.

Crises encourage governments to assume emergency powers and rally support for unpopular actions. This sudden power is a double-edged sword. It is just as easily applied by strongmen to stifle political opposition as it is to combat an existential threat.

Which option might Hong Kong choose? Tempting as it may be to further hobble the opposition, the government can rise above the squabbles to take advantage of the first chance in months to have a serious crack at repairing the social and political fallout of the black-shirt protests and administrative bullheadedness. This cannot come too soon.

The extreme polarisation that has beset the city has already seen an emerging “yellow” crypto-economy that discriminates against mainland visitors, with boorish claims that only Cantonese is spoken at certain establishments. However deep the grudge, a yellow economy is not the smartest prescription for a “world city” seen as a cosmopolitan financial hub.