Ex-HKO Head: Sack Tommy Cheung From Exco

A former head of the Hong Kong Observatory has urged Chief Executive Carrie Lam to sack catering sector lawmaker Tommy Cheung from the Executive Council, accusing him of undermining the government and its Covid-19 response.

Lam Chiu-ying was responding to comments made by Cheung on an RTHK programme on Thursday, during which he said that he thought government doctors did not know how to make risk assessments amid the pandemic, and that he was unhappy that restaurants and bars have been seriously affected by social-distancing restrictions.

Writing in a letter to the Chief Executive as a former civil servant, Lam accused Cheung in his letter of being arrogant and rude, and caring only about the interests of his own sector while ignoring the overall interests of Hong Kong society.

Lam said that Cheung repeatedly insulted government officials publicly amid the Covid-19 outbreak when he was supposed to be supporting the administration as an Exco member.

The former observatory chief went on to say that Cheung's "groundless criticisms" had put pressure on civil servants, undermined morale, and damaged the image of the Executive Council.

He demanded that the lawmaker apologise to government officials and civil servants, and quit Exco.

Lam served as head of the observatory from 2003 to 2009.