I could still remember the day of July 1, 2017, when Carrie Lam took over the position of Chief Executive of the HKSAR. She was sworn into office by President Xi Jinping in Hong Kong, whilst the city also marked the 20th anniversary of the handover. Rewind the clock back a few months earlier to October of 2016. Retired judge Woo Kwok-Hing was the first to announce he would contest in the Chief Executive race, then former Financial Secretary John Tsang and former Chief Secretary Carrie Lam also set their intention to run for election, all at around the same time.

As we all know, the person for the top job of the HKSAR, the Chief Executive, is selected by a 1200 member Election Committee, which is divided into many subsectors, not representative of a democratic election like that of the free world. It is also quite different from the "one person, one vote "model without pre-screening that Hong Kong people have long hoped for. A lot of the 1200 Election Committee members, who are either members of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) or members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), are “privileged” per se and loyalists that most of the time would support the policy making of the Hong Kong Government.

A former judge was never viewed as a strong contender for Hong Kong’s top job. After all, Beijing wanted absolute obedience and loyalty, not impartiality in upholding the law. During the time of the first Chief Executive race, Chief Justice Ti-Liang Yang was a contender, but ended up getting 10.55% of the electoral vote. For retired judge Woo, who ran in the 2017 HK Chief Executive race, he ended up getting 1.81% of the electoral vote, a weak number by any standard. That said, it was good to have someone from the legal profession join the race. Though those were sideshows and their intentions were not really to win and most importantly they did not have the blessings from Beijing, it showed the perceived diversity of Hong Kong. Looking back, in the 2017 HK Chief Executive race, perhaps Hong Kong people had a glimpse of hope to see Hong Kong could be restarted. Former Finance Secretary John Tsang said it well during his campaign trail: “From now on, there is no division into yellow and blue, but just the Hong Kong camp.”

Of course, all hell broke loose when Carrie Lam became the Chief Executive of HKSAR from July 1, 2017, onwards. Who would have thought that Carrie Lam would be the most ever hated political figure in Hong Kong after the handover, even more so than her unpopular predecessor CY Leung? With the massive arrests on Sept 6, 2020, the pinning down of a 12 year old girl by the riot police, and the arrest of internet programme host Tak-Chi Tam, Hong Kong people got a lot to be angry about, not to mention that they were stripped of their right to vote in the Legislative Council election over last weekend. I believe it is a fair statement to say the Chief Executive of Hong Kong and so many of her cabinet ministers are held accountable for destroying the core values of our city. A modern-day “cultural revolution” is in the making.

Anyone with a sound mind can see that since the National Security Law (NSL) came into effect two months ago, “absurdity” has been the new normal, and things have been getting worse. Not only have the Hong Kong police force been doing all the “dirty work” to suppress the ordinary people, but the top officials of the Hong Kong Government have also been trying to re-define what “Separation of Powers” means to this city. Re-defining “Separation of Powers” has been a big shocker thus far in September, while Hong Kong people have long believed that the legislature, judiciary and administrative branches all work independently. Under normal circumstances, “Separation of Powers” and “executive led” government are exactly what the names imply, and Hong Kong is never meant to become an “executive control” society.

I was on full alert when I saw pro-Beijing mouthpiece Tai Kung Po put Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma of the Court of Final Appeal in a front page headline. The essence of the headline is as follows: “Judge Ma, what are you hiding from?” The propaganda machine took a view that the top judge had “shown lenience” towards activists who participated in Hong Kong’s democracy protests in general. But this was not the first time the pro-Beijing camp had tried to stage a show to belittle the Hong Kong court system, or some of its judges. In September of last year, around 100 people from pro-Beijing group Defend Hong Kong Campaign protested outside the Court of Final Appeal, demanding resignation of Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma as well.

This week, Carrie Lam proclaimed herself as the “core” of Hong Kong. This is problematic, as President Xi Jinping has been called “the core” as well. Is Carrie Lam trying to steal the show? That said, I wish the Chief Executive could answer Hong Kong people and the international community about the fate of the 12 Hong Kong protesters who are being detained in China. As far as what we can read from the media, the 12 protesters had a failed mission to flee to Taiwan for refuge by sea. Our HK Chief Executive didn’t even help the family members of the Hong Kong detainees communicate with them, not to mention the right to legal representation. The fate of these 12 Hong Kong protesters look gloomy by all means.

With no good news around in Hong Kong, it was some sort of a comic relief that a cardboard cut-out of Carrie Lam appeared at the Conan O’Brien show a few days ago, as a “social distanced” cardboard audience. The popular talk show host jokingly commented that the Carrie Lam in the picture “looks like here to pass a death sentence”, and the sidekick of the talk show also commented that Carrie Lam “doesn’t look like it, but she is nuts.” All these comments came in timely, in uncertain times like these.

It is no coincidence that Carrie Lam’s cabinet ministers all tried to redefine the definition of the “Separation of Powers” of Hong Kong , from education chief Kevin Yeung to Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng, basically saying “all powers are bestowed from Beijing”. So what will come next?

The puppet Hong Kong government under Carrie Lam has been trying to re-write Hong Kong history under Beijing’s directive. Sitting judges of Hong Kong are under pressure to follow the Beijing line, and the totalitarian regime is in constant violation of international human rights law. Under the NSL, we even already have the secret police in Hong Kong, and it is no joke. Does anyone still seriously believe that there is “one country, two systems” in Hong Kong now? Our judiciary is under siege, and our city has turned into a police state in just weeks.

Under Carrie Lam’s leadership or lack of it, Hong Kong has turned into a city of desperation. That feeling seems to grow by the day. The inevitable collapse of our judiciary won’t happen, but the spirit of an impartial judiciary seems to be questionable, especially with Beijing’s blunt interference. Hong Kong is not yet cut off from the outside world, far from it; but for those who stay behind, we definitely need the will power and strategy to keep going.

Perhaps another satirical clip to portray our Hong Kong leadership, like what the Conan O’Brien show did, is not a bad idea to start with? It is a harsh reality that Hong Kong has lost its autonomy, but we still have to voice out loudly, so the rest of the world can hear us. The last act of our fight is yet to be written. As long as we try, better things are yet to come!

(Edward Chin runs a family office. Chin was formerly Country Head of a UK publicly listed hedge fund, the largest of its kind measured by asset under management. Outside the hedge funds space, Chin is Convenor of 2047 Hong Kong Monitor and a Senior Advisor of Reporters Without Borders (RSF, HK & Macau). Chin studied speech communication at the University of Minnesota, and received his MBA from the University of Toronto. Twitter: edwardckchin Youtube: Ed Chin Facebook.com/edckchin Email: [email protected])

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