Letters | Carrie Lam and her advisers’ ‘mistakes’ are so numerous and obvious that they may be intentional

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Protesters jeer Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam as she arrives for an Executive Council meeting in Tamar on October 15. Photo: May Tse

Published: 6:20am, 17 Oct 2019Updated: 6:20am, 17 Oct 2019

For months it’s been a daily challenge establishing any logic that lies behind our government’s actions, but intensifying protests have forced a reassessment.

Hongkongers were rightfully aghast when it became clear Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor had no comprehension of the extent of their opposition to her extradition bill – although, that her entire team and the Executive Council allowed such a situation to progress as far as it did suggests it wasn’t just Mrs Lam who was out of touch.

One of the first life lessons children are exposed to is that they must learn from the past. In recent weeks our government’s incompetence in repeating its blunders has stunned Hongkongers, tourists and investors alike.

Earlier this month rumours turned to fact, when emergency powers were invoked by way of an almost 100-year-old Emergency Regulations Ordinance.

Other than our chief executive’s clueless cheerleaders demanding an immediate mask ban, the advice of the majority was that invoking this ordinance would escalate protests, endanger public safety, renew the license for police brutality and cross a line from which there was no retreat. That Mrs Lam had the audacity, within 24 hours, to declare that Hong Kong’s public safety had been endangered after that advice had been ignored is a blunder of epic proportions.