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Opinion | Time for Carrie Lam and her reformed legislature to end modern slavery in Hong Kong
- With dissent and protests stifled, the chief executive and lawmakers now have a free hand to shape the city’s future
- If they want to improve Hong Kong’s global image, they could start by treating those less fortunate with a little more fairness, kindness, empathy and humility
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As she ran for chief executive in 2017, then-chief secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor told Hong Kong people she would transform our city for the better. Her 777 votes were a harbinger of how lucky Hong Kong was to become under her leadership as chief executive.
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Now, with protests and dissent no longer possible under China’s national security law for Hong Kong and prickly legislators and newspaper editors either in jail or in exile, Lam has indeed transformed Hong Kong in ways no previous chief executive or colonial governor did in the space of five years.
There is no more meaningless meandering about universal suffrage as Beijing has asserted its comprehensive jurisdiction over Hong Kong and revamped election rules for the city. Only patriots can stand for office.
Endowed with a Legislative Council she has always wanted for passing bills more quickly, how should Lam use it to demonstrate her motherly leadership qualities as she possibly contemplates running for a second term?
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Carrie Lam defends imposition of tough Covid-19 rules as Hong Kong fights record case numbers
Carrie Lam defends imposition of tough Covid-19 rules as Hong Kong fights record case numbers
Last week, as my host and I drove from Cape Town to Stellenbosch, a sight struck me like no other. It was not Table Mountain or waves of the Atlantic Ocean but, rather, an endless sea of shacks whose simplicity, extensiveness and proximity to each other were all the more visually remarkable because of their vibrant colours.
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