Extradition bill crisis: how the Hong Kong government had the ‘perfect’ listening mechanisms, but turned a deaf ear to public sentiment
- In a new series of in-depth articles on the unrest rocking Hong Kong, the Post goes behind the headlines to look at the underlying issues, current state of affairs, and where it is all heading
- We examine how Carrie Lam’s administration failed to gauge the popular mood before launching the bill, and what that implies for the way it governs
Ever since he was a young district councillor pounding the pavements of the working-class neighbourhood of Sham Shui Po, Tam Kwok-kiu knew keeping his ear to the ground was vital if he was to be of any use to his constituents.
Whenever there was a major policy to be passed, he and other councillors would be asked for their assessment of how ordinary Hongkongers would view them. Whether it was a policy on retirement protection or the electoral reforms of the 1990s and the 2000s, he and other councillors would be right in the thick of consultations. They aired their residents’ concerns openly and candidly, feeling they had a stake in the city’s future.
But when the government announced in February it was amending the law to allow for ad hoc extradition to countries with which Hong Kong did not have a deal in place, Tam was left out of the conversation.
“They did not table the bill for discussion at Sham Shui Po District Council at all,” the 62-year-old said. “It was incomprehensible to me that the government did not bother to listen to our views on such a crucial issue.”
Tam was not the only one. Councillors from the other 17 district councils similarly did not learn the news from the government. They got wind of it like everyone else – from the media.
As Hong Kong continues to seethe two months after mass protests erupted over the extradition bill and with no resolution in sight, one oft-heard lament of Hongkongers is how their grievances with a government that was deaf to them have built up over the years. The dam of pent-up discontent finally burst with the extradition bill.
