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Members of a Hindu temple and non-profit organisation distribute free face masks and hand sanitiser to citizens over 60 in Tsim Sha Tsui on March 10. As the government scrambled to secure the supply of face masks, various groups used their own means to source and distribute them. Photo: K.Y. Cheng
Opinion
Opinion
by Michael Chugani
Opinion
by Michael Chugani

Coronavirus: in the absence of Singapore-style leadership, Hongkongers are rediscovering their can-do spirit

  • Not only does Hong Kong’s leader lack the credibility to begin a television address with ‘my fellow Hongkongers’, the government’s inadequate handling of the crisis has pushed the city’s residents to draw on their own resources
Michael Chugani
Michael Chugani
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What does it mean to be a Hongkonger? Do we even know who we are? I bet none of us can give an honest answer free of political spin. Both questions tugged at me after I rewatched Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s televised address to his nation last month. 

When the novel coronavirus spilled out of China to sweep the world, Lee used his February 8 speech to rally his countrymen. He didn’t mince words, warning that the epidemic would be likely to worsen but urged citizens to remain calm, not to panic buy and to trust the government.

When I first watched the speech, I wondered how a leader of a country with a multiparty system in name only could have such a calming hold on the people that they listened to him and followed his advice. Lee began by saying, “my fellow Singaporeans”. Towards the end, after crediting the people for the country’s unity, he said, “This is what it means to be Singaporean. This is who we are.”

Would our own leader dare begin an address at a time of crisis by saying “my fellow Hongkongers” and end it with “This is what it means to be a Hongkonger. This is who we are”? I can’t imagine Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor doing that. Even if she did, I don’t even want to think about the derision she would draw.

Singaporeans know who they are. Lee has the leadership qualities to state what it means to be Singaporean. In his second nationally televised speech last week, to rally the people against the coronavirus epidemic, he said, “We are Singapore united.” If only Lam had the credibility to say that about Hong Kong.

US President Donald Trump’s televised speech to the nation last week was, for want of a better word, disastrous. It confused rather than calmed the people. But he was still able to start by saying “my fellow Americans”. Americans know who they are and what it means to be American.
So do the French, who are proud of who they are. French President Emmanuel Macron’s address to the nation on Tuesday wasn’t exactly stirring but his “we are at war” warning woke up a sleepy nation to the reality of a killer disease.

Leadership qualities are best tested at times of crisis. Singapore’s Lee has passed with flying colours. As an American, I have to say my own president is fumbling in the dark. But the US is a democracy. As The Washington Post’s slogan says, “democracy dies in darkness”.

I know for sure Americans won’t let democracy die. Trump is an idiotic genius. He excels in waging a trade war but not a battle against a disease. He knows how to box a visible foe but not how to shadowbox an invisible virus. If he loses, he will lose the upcoming presidential election. That, too, is democracy.

There is no election to be lost for our leader, regardless of how poorly she does. The people don’t get to choose. Lam’s leadership qualities have been tested twice in past months by two unprecedented crises – the anti-government protests and the coronavirus.

I won’t bother grading her but will only point out that opinion polls consistently show her to be the worst leader since reunification. She virtually disappeared during the protests and has not faced the people with a reassuring speech the way Lee, Trump and Macron have done.

Amid all the disruption, where’s the long-term plan for battered Hong Kong?

She has instead defined her leadership by handing out face masks to underprivileged groups. She sought to praise herself two days ago by noting the relatively low coronavirus cases here. If anyone deserves praise, it is Hongkongers.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam (right) visits Lok Sin Tong social housing scheme in Kowloon City on February 17 to distribute disease prevention items, including surgical masks, to families and learn about their daily lives. Photo: Handout
Hong Kong forced her to shut some borders. Striking medical workers made her further tighten these restrictions. Hongkongers used their own means to find face masks, with no government help.

Hong Kong is a free society within an authoritarian state. That makes it hard for people to define what it means to be a Hongkonger. But the virus crisis has shown Hongkongers can rediscover their lost can-do spirit by fending for themselves without government leadership.

Michael Chugani is a Hong Kong journalist and TV show host

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