Opinion | John Lee’s policy address will need to deliver hope, above all else

With Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu scheduled to deliver his policy address on Wednesday, he is no doubt busy putting the final touches to his speech. And this may be his most challenging address.

There are many reasons, the most obvious being that there are no more excuses to fall back on. Covid-19 is a non-issue, although the impact of the prolonged border and quarantine policies are still being felt. Numbers don’t lie and the economy has yet to pick up.

Also gone is the excuse of needing to tend to more pressing priorities, by which I mean restoring order after the political chaos that culminated in the 2019 social unrest. The Lee administration has seen to it that the principle of “patriots administering Hong Kong” is being fully implemented, and national security safeguarded.

The coming district council elections will see the final piece fall into place for a revamped electoral system designed to align with those principles. With drastically reduced seats and a completely different decision-making and power structure, the district councils will have no real political power. That power lies with the government and those anointed with nomination privileges.

Just eight people from the opposition camp – two from the Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People’s Livelihood and six from the Democratic Party – have expressed a wish to run. None, so far, has secured enough nominations.

With the opposition camp – which has, in the past, employed obstructionist tactics and been cited as the reason for the political stalemate – effectively cut out of the Election Committee, Legislative Council and, most likely, the district councils too, the people will expect greater expediency from officials in dealing with Hong Kong’s long-standing problems.