Lam Expresses Gratitude for Electoral Reform

Lam's jacket matches the colour of the English words today

 

It was Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor's turn today to put her spin on the electoral reforms decided by the National People's Congress. 

Fresh from her trip to Beijing, Lam addressed reporters this morning and expressed her gratitude to the central government for its "timely, lawful and constitutional move" to take the lead in "plugging the loopholes" in the existing electoral system, saying the city did not have the power to change it on its own.

Did the Basic Law have "loopholes" in it?

"The first one is the enactment and implementation of the national security law... The second is now we are improving the electoral system by making sure whoever is governing and administering Hong Kong in the future is somebody who loves the country, who loves Hong Kong," she said.

Did the electoral process need plugging loopholes? If so then the blame should be on Martin Lee Chu-ming, one of the architects of the Basic Law. He and the Basic Law Drafting Committee thought of every conceivable situation, but probably not of the NPC completely overhauling the electoral system. 

It seemed to have worked fine for 23 years, but for Beijing it's not enough to have that slim opportunity for the pan-democrats to possibly influence the make-up of the election committee, but now to make it completely impossible for there to be any kind of opposition.

Lam went on to say how the city is safe from "black-shirted rioters" and if all goes according to plan then perhaps Hong Kong will have universal suffrage in voting for the chief executive. 

There's no point in trying to dangle that carrot in front of Hongkongers. They know what is going on.

Legco will only be filled with "patriots" now

When Lam was asked about how there could be any room for the pan-democrats to function in this space, she didn't think there was any bias.

"The improvements to the electoral system in HKSAR are not designed to favour someone [in the pro-establishment camp]. They are designed to ensure that whoever is administrating Hong Kong is patriotic, and this is only right in terms of political ethics," Lam said, adding it was "inconceivable" for someone who was governing to be unpatriotic.

Patriotic is the key word which will eliminate a lot of people from running for the Legislative Council. 

But Lam insisted the authorities were not targeting the pan-democrats, adding that those "who do not love the country and Hong Kong undermine the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong, challenge the authority of the central government, and collude with foreign powers to impose sanctions on the country and Hong Kong".

She also urged the public to stop describing the dichotomy of pan-democrats and pro-establishment politicians, saying that the latter could be "democratic".

Lam says pro-establishment can be "democratic"

This is the environment Hong Kong is in now, where something is called black is actually white. 

Lam insisted the changes were legal and said there were no "so-called international standard of democracy", that each country has its own kind of democracy depending on its situation.

The spinning she does is that of a stern headmistress who is commanding her students to use new vocabulary from now on even though it's wrong.

Welcome to Hong Kong's new normal, where it gets incrementally worse on a daily basis.