ExCo convener praises Lam's positive moves

Bernard Chan notes new CE's swift transition from background, 'COO' role to public-facing 'CEO'

Executive Council Convener Bernard Chan describes Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor as having gone through significant changes since the CE election earlier this year.

An executive councilor since 2004, Chan said Lam had become more proactive, reaching out to people and society. Also, government officials are more responsive, making district visits and going to the beaches to handle the palm oil leak incident.

In an exclusive interview with China Daily, Chan - who was Lam's election campaign manager - used the analogy of a chief operating officer (COO) and chief executive officer (CEO) to describe her transition.

"After becoming CE, she has transitioned from a COO to a CEO. As COO, one often works behind the scenes. While as CEO, she faces the public and often stands at the forefront," Chan explained.

"We can see she is very proactive in both internal and external matters. Internally, she handles many issues while visiting other places in a non-stop manner to promote Hong Kong," he said.

Earlier, Lam visited Singapore and Thailand to deepen ties with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries with a view to signing free-trade agreements. Most parts of the Thailand trip were arranged by Chan, who has strong family and business ties there.

She also visited Beijing and will visit Shanghai, Tianjin and Hangzhou this month, and will have a trip to another ASEAN country, Myanmar, next month.

Responding to criticism that her governing team comprises mainly civil servants and lacks big names, Chan said this was not a problem. "Since most of them are ex-civil servants, they know government operations well and can adapt quickly."

Chan believes the most important thing is whether they can deliver results, without passing the buck to one another. On the other hand, big names are the most liable to make mistakes because they are unfamiliar with the government, he added.

"The officials are more responsive now because they know the CE is a decisive, non-hesitant person, prompting them to react more quickly. And perhaps because they have a very smart boss, nobody dares to be lazy," he said.

Chan highlighted one thing to show Lam's positive changes. Early in the election, she didn't have a Facebook account. She only reluctantly agreed to open one when the campaign staff asked her.

"Now she is embracing Facebook as a useful social media platform to communicate with and reach out to the public, instead of merely sitting in the office," he observed.

Some thought she was not receptive to other people's opinions. But today, many people, including her critics, agree that she has made good changes.

"The only problem is many people have very high expectations of her, thinking she can solve all the problems," he noted.

Cooperation in the past

Chan came to know Lam when he first became a lawmaker in 1998. They had more opportunities to cross paths when she was director of social welfare while he was chairman of Hong Kong Council of Social Service in early 2000s.

"We were at opposite positions and there were a lot tensions between us because of the budget deficit, reduction of financial resources and the controversial lump-sum grant to social welfare agencies," he recollected.

In later years, they worked more closely together on heritage and conservation matters when she became secretary for development and on broader issues after she was appointed chief secretary for administration.

Having served as a cabinet member under four different CEs, Chan feels he can talk to Lam more freely and fully. They are working closely, exchanging text messages and meeting frequently to discuss specific issues.

He revealed: "People who want to lobby the government come to lobby me, thinking I can reflect their views to Carrie."

Finance and business

Lam is not a novice in finance, business and technology, Chan commented. She just rarely handled these areas before, as they were not her policy portfolios.

"She will spend more time on these areas. She purposely told her critics that she was not a novice in finance during the election," he explained.

Lam boasted the backing of three financial heavyweights during the election - Hong Kong Monetary Authority ex-chief executive Joseph Yam Chi-kwong, Financial Services Development Council Chairwoman Laura Cha Shih May-lung and Chan himself from the financial and insurance sectors.

She later added Chow Chung-kong, chairman of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing to form the "big four", who are all now sitting on her cabinet.

Recently, Yam criticized the former governments' financial philosophy as maintaining a miserly budget by keeping excessive reserves over the past decade.

Some said Yam was piling pressure on Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po to spend more.

"Lam has definitely not asked Joseph Yam to make such comments. I think he wants to publish his opinions in the capacity of an ExCo member for the first time," Bernard Chan said.

"I don't think she needs to speak to Paul Chan in such an indirect way. She will speak to him directly if it is necessary to increase government spending on people's livelihood and welfare issues like what she promised during the election."

joseph@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 08/16/2017 page4)