Foreign Media Praised Female Leaders For Outstanding Leadership During Pandemic, Yet Carrie Lam is Not Named?

(15 Apr) With the global spread of COVID-19, foreign media have recently compared the anti-pandemic policies of global leaders, and have come to the conclusion that female leaders generally perform better. Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, and New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, among others, have been praised by foreign media as high-performing female leaders. However, Hong Kong's female Chief Executive Carrie Lam, who said she was "quick to respond", didn’t make it to the list. 

At the time of writing, there were 1,016 confirmed cases in Hong Kong, which was lower than those in neighbouring regions, yet Carrie Lam has not been credited. Both local experts and foreign media noticed that Lam has been repeatedly criticized for her slow response in recent months, such as the inability to close Hong Kong-Mainland borders. It is believed that Hong Kong's success in fighting the epidemic is largely due to the fact that Hongkongers saved themselves during the crisis.

In fact, the current figures for the epidemic in Hong Kong are not severe. At the time of writing, there were only 1,016 confirmed cases, one-third of the number of cases in Singapore. But at the same time, Lam has been criticized for being slow to respond to the public's demands, such as securing masks, closure of borders and entertainment venues.

1. Prohibiting officials from wearing masks

In January, when government officials held press conferences to explain the epidemic, they did not wear masks on several occasions, even though both Chief Secretary for Administration, Matthew Cheung, and Secretary for Food and Health, Sophia Chan had coughs. The Director of Health, Chan Hon-yee, has explicitly stated that masks are unnecessary for social occasions unless one has symptoms of illness. On Feb 4, Lam stated that the government had not been able to secure more masks, so one should use them conservatively, and officials who did not meet the criteria "have to take [the masks] off even when they were wearing one”. She eventually apologized for the misunderstanding caused by the lack of clarity in her expression. On the contrary, Dr. Yuen Kwok-yung, Dr. Ho Pak-leung and a number of medical groups have urged everyone to wear masks.

2. Refusal to close borders

In January, there were calls for the Government to "close borders" between Hong Kong and Mainland China and prohibit non-Hong Kong residents from entering from the Mainland. According to an opinion poll conducted by the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute at the time, nearly 80% of the respondents supported the border closure. However, Lam has repeatedly rejected the demand, arguing that the border closure involved discrimination. The Hospital Authority (HA) Employees Alliance launched a strike on 3 Feb, demanding the Government to "close the borders", but Lam criticized the strike as an extreme tactic that would not succeed. Apple Daily later exposed, in the "anti-epidemic report" submitted to the Chinese Government by the Chief Executive's Office in February, the HA Employees Alliance who initiated the strike was described as the "black sheep". The government has issued an order requesting HA to discipline the staff who organized the strike, and they should not be allowed to work in the hospital. Starting from 8 Feb midnight, the Government introduced a 14-days mandatory quarantine for mainlanders entering Hong Kong, but still refused to close the mainland borders.

3. Delays in closing karaoke lounges and beauty salons

On 27 Mar, Lam announced the closures of six types of venues such as cinemas, but karaoke bars were not included. A few days later, a cluster of infections broke out due to a karaoke gathering, yet the Government delayed until 1 Apr to announce the closure of karaoke lounges. The same applies to beauty salons, which were brought under the regulatory ordinance on 1 Apr. However, beauty salons were still allowed to operate, and on the same day, a beauty salon staff was confirmed with COVID-19. The government delayed until 10 Apr to announce the mandatory closure of beauty salons for 14 days.

Dr. Ho Pak Leung: “The Government is hopeless, Hongkongers need to rescue themselves”

Many commentators believe that the number of confirmed cases remained low in Hong Kong, not because of the Government’s anti-epidemic response. It is due to the fact that Hongkongers have completely lost their trust in the Government after 6 months of protests. The spirit of self-preservation and mutual aid during the crisis, coupled with their previous experience in combating SARS, are the key factors to Hong Kong prevailing the fight against the epidemic. 

In an interview with The Stand News, Director of HKU’s Centre for Infection Dr. Ho Pak Leung praised Hongkongers’ strong sense of self-preservation. He believed that Hong Kong’s success in fighting the epidemic today is “largely due to Hongkongers rescuing themselves”. He frankly said that because "the Government is hopeless", Hongkongers had to find solutions themselves. 

He cited the example that before the first confirmed case in Hong Kong, 70% Hongkongers wore masks, and over 90% wore masks in the later stages. On the other hand, the business sector has also taken the initiative to produce and develop various types of masks, with almost no involvement from the Government, who only started to provide subsidies at a later stage. 

Source: The Stand News

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