When Hong Kong’s Prime Minister Carrie Lam appeared at the side of China’s party leader Xi Jinping in a pink costume in 2018, some people thought that their piglet was the best friend of Pooh the Bear. The comparison with the fearful little pig from the children’s book series could almost be understood as flattering. After all, Lam bears the unofficial title of Hong Kong’s most hated politician. A magazine recently described her as a leader who killed her own city.
The head of government of the special administrative zone could look back on two good years. Hong Kong has at least achieved what other regions of the world have not yet succeeded in doing. The city of millions brought the corona virus under control within a very short time, only a little more than 200 people have died of Covid-19 so far. Still, the Lam’s popularity did not help.
When she took office in 2017, the head of government – the first woman in this position – had promised to heal the division in society. This is how she interpreted the growing anger over the lack of democratic participation, Beijing’s increasing influence and dwindling freedom. With her unwillingness to compromise during the protests against her extradition agreement with mainland China, two years later she plunged the city into the worst crisis in its history. It was the beginning of the end of the once free city.
She once said about herself that she would do a lot of good. She is known to enjoy correcting others. When the violence escalated and the police shot the demonstrators with tear gas and rubber bullets, she saw one victim above all: herself. She shed a few tears and explained that spoiled children should be disciplined. Since then, they have been drawing cartoonists as a reptile with claws.
The hatred of Lam has a lot to do with the impossibility of her job. On the one hand, it is supposed to represent the interests of the seven million inhabitants vis-à-vis the central government. However, the Hong Kong people did not vote for them. The head of government is chosen by an election committee handpicked by China. Lam is the governor by the grace of Beijing.
It is said that she used to be an idealist. Long ago
Her self-confidence, which many Hong Kongers curse as arrogance, may have been the basis of her career. When the now 64-year-old was a child, Hong Kong was still a British crown colony. She grew up in a simple family and had four siblings. She later studied sociology and is said to have taken to the streets against the policy of the colonial administration a few times. It is said that she used to be an idealist.
In 1980 she joined the city council, soon took on leading positions, and headed the commercial agency in London for several years. In 2012, Prime Minister Leung Chun-ying appointed her as his de facto deputy. When the umbrella movement demonstrated for weeks in 2014 for free elections, the entrepreneur acted so clumsily that he did not run a second time. Lam took over.
How much the city has changed since then was shown on Sunday. Fewer than ever since the handover took part in the first parliamentary election since the so-called Security Act came into force. Only candidates classified as “patriotic” by Beijing were allowed to stand; the major pro-democratic parties were excluded. Many of their representatives are now in jail or have fled.
However, Lam did not want to see resistance in the low turnout. The votes cast are a sign of support for the improved electoral system. In the days before that, she had claimed that low voter turnout primarily shows that citizens have no desire for change.