- The government has been criticised for leaving the police to handle protesters instead of finding a political solution. Now, Carrie Lam must not put health care workers on the front lines of the coronavirus outbreak at more risk than necessary
A crisis is no time to be leaderless. Yet here Hong Kong is again, the Wuhan coronavirus casting a pall over the city even as the protest movement remains unresolved. Health care workers, like the police, are on the front lines, expected to find a solution to what officials have been dawdling over.
Ironically, for ordinary citizens, the best defence, apart from cleanliness, is surgical face masks, which, given demand, are in short supply.
There are obvious similarities to the severe acute respiratory syndrome pandemic in 2003, when 299 Hong Kong lives were lost to a virus that had its origins in Guangdong province. There was similar government reluctance to act at first, and the outbreak also coincided with efforts to introduce a controversial law that sparked protests.
But authorities responded differently to the criticism, eventually admitting mistakes and several top officials, including the first chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, were forced from office.
Tung's successor several times removed, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, returned from the World Economic Forum in Switzerland on Saturday and announced a series of measures that should have been made a week earlier. Among them was an indefinite suspension of trains and planes from Wuhan, extending the school break and calling off the annual Hong Kong marathon.
She said she would ask Beijing for help in acquiring masks and rejected calls to close checkpoints at the border with the mainland, contending that such a move was inappropriate and not practical.
It's a pity that such measures were not put in place until her return from a soiree at which she was promoting Hong Kong to the world at the worst possible time, a decision that itself was inappropriate and unpractical.
There was no mention of measures to help doctors, nurses and other medical staff in public hospitals, who are bearing the brunt of the outbreak. As the coronavirus loomed, medical wards were struggling to cope, with bed occupancy rates on January 17 at 102 per cent. Not restricting border transport sooner allowed mainland Chinese to come to the city for treatment, further straining resources.
If such inattention sounds familiar, it should be: this is the same approach Lam and the government have taken towards the democracy protests. She has repeatedly made clear that police are in charge and, when violent clashes inevitably occur, she condemns those fighting for rights and freedoms.
Hong Kong government must 'listen to the people' in Year of Rat: fortune stick
In a democracy, the leadership would have stepped in to find a political solution. Not in Hong Kong, though, where the inaction of authorities makes it obvious that powers other than for the day-to-day running of city affairs lie elsewhere.
Tung and his government were plainly more in charge during Sars, although the pressure from Beijing was also obvious. As the virus was spreading from mainland China, authorities thought the time was right to introduce the Basic Law's controversial Article 23 national security legislation.
They handled both incidents poorly: the 500,000-strong protest on July 1 led to the withdrawal of the bill and the resignation of security secretary Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, followed by health, welfare and food secretary Yeoh Eng-kiong a year later and, in March 2005, the chief executive himself. Director of health Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun left the government for a job with the World Health Organisation in August 2003.
Government passivity has returned with the Wuhan coronavirus. We've already had our Article 23 moment with the extradition bill that sparked the protests last year and was also withdrawn. But, unlike in 2003, there have been no resignations or admission of failings by Lam or her top officials.
Waiting for Beijing to give orders or even following the lead of Macau is no way for a city that claims to be of international importance to deal with crises. The Year of the Rat heralds the start of a new Chinese zodiac cycle and hopes for change. Hong Kong has lurched from one calamity to another and it needs leadership that can respond positively to public sentiment and citizens' needs. Just like the rat, we need officials who are intelligent and deft.
Peter Kammerer is a senior writer at the Post
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