Brian Y. S. Wong

Opinion | Elected or not, Hong Kong’s chief executive must serve the people

Hong Kong should keep the practice of electing its leader, even if it is by a small committee, in view of its inherited mix of Western political values and Chinese cultural norms

But a leader’s performance is not contingent on how he or she is selected. The chief executive must be seen to be standing by the people

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Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor celebrates after winning the Hong Kong chief executive election in March 2017, after receiving 777 of the 1,194 votes cast. However a leader is chosen, what truly matters is the extent to which he or she is responsive to people’s needs, especially the most disenfranchised. Photo: Robert Ng

Brian Y. S. Wong

Published: 6:45am, 2 Feb 2021Updated: 6:46am, 2 Feb 2021

The question of how Hong Kong’s chief executive should be chosen has again been in the spotlight, along with wider concerns about the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and uncertainty over the city’s political future.

While some have suggested that the current arrangements should be scrapped in favour of consensus-based consultation, others have insisted that an elected chief executive – albeit by only a select group of electors – remains preferable to one chosen behind closed doors.

Steeped in a hybrid of Western political values and Chinese cultural norms, Hong Kong has a pluralist, liberal and democratically oriented public ethos, in contrast with the mainland.

The final years of the colonial era kick-started the city’s democratisation, transforming people previously governed by a non-democratic, illiberal regime into those who crave representation that can at least partially hold the governing class to account.

Indeed, Article 45 of the Basic Law states: “The ultimate aim is the selection of the chief executive by universal suffrage upon nomination by a broadly representative nominating committee in accordance with democratic procedures.”

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Given the city’s distinctive political culture, elections – even if they are not wholly representative – remain the best means of ensuring that the leadership will at least try to cater to public needs, and has some perceived legitimacy to govern.