Michael Chugani

Opinion | A mysterious revolt against Carrie Lam is brewing in Hong Kong’s establishment camp

Staunch loyalists have been attacking the chief executive’s coronavirus response and leadership. Could it be Beijing’s way of hinting that she won’t get a second term?

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Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam attends a press conference on December 8. Beijing has so far kept silent on recent pro-establishment attacks on Lam’s performance. Photo: AP

Michael Chugani

Published: 8:30am, 24 Dec 2020Updated: 10:00am, 24 Dec 2020

At Christmas time last year, citywide protests sparked by opposition to the extradition bill had largely subsided after the opposition swept November’s district council elections and the Polytechnic University siege ended five days later.

Even sporadic small-scale protests stopped after the government imposed strict social distancing rules when the coronavirus, first reported in Wuhan, reached Hong Kong.

But now there’s the smell of a new kind of rebellion that’s baffling political pundits. This time, fingers are not being pointed at the radical opposition, which considers our chief executive Beijing’s puppet. Most of last year’s black-clad protesters are either in jail, under arrest, or have fled.

This new type of rebellion doesn’t involve violence. It is happening from within the loyalist camp. And it is being mounted not so much by establishment lawmakers, the only camp left in the Legislative Council, as by the staunchest of loyalists.

The aim is to express deep discontent with the leadership of Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor. Some have even suggested she should step down. Astonished? I sure am. Staunch loyalists are supposed to stand by the city’s leader no matter what, not gang up on her.

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Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam to get tough on Covid-19 prevention measures cases surpass 100

But that’s exactly what’s happening, with Lam’s predecessor Leung Chun-ying questioning her pandemic response even though Hong Kong decorum dictates that past chief executives should refrain from criticising the current one.