'Humble' Carrie Lam Stands Firm On Welfare Change

Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Wednesday refused to give in to mounting political pressure against a controversial policy change that’ll see some elderly people getting smaller welfare cheques in two days’ time, while pledging to remain ‘humble’ and eschew ‘elitism’.

Speaking at a question-and-answer session at Legco, Lam stared down a flurry of questions from pan-democratic lawmakers who demanded she cancel plans to raise the minimum age for elderly welfare from 60 to 65 starting February 1.

She reiterated that the change is part of a basket of measures the government is putting in place to implement a broader policy shift to better serve Hong Kong’s ageing population.

Lam said there had been widespread public agreement to a population review undertaken by the previous administration, which concluded that as the population ages, people should remain in the workforce for longer.

She reiterated that this was never about saving money or cutting welfare expenditure.

Asked by Democratic Party lawmaker Roy Kwong why she can’t be humble enough to change course at this late stage in the face of bipartisan agreement that the policy change is undesirable, Lam answered with an anecdote.

“When I attended the World Economic Forum [in Davos] for four days last week, I had the opportunity to interact with many leaders,” she said. “One representative of an international organisation who was there reminded the leaders that in the face of globalization and challenges brought about by technological advances, they need to keep two things in mind: first, to be humble, and secondly, to shed off their elitist mentality. I will keep these two reminders closely in mind.”

But Labour Party councillor Fernando Cheung threw the CE’s words back in her face, saying “she should shed her elitist mentality… and try to understand how low-income, or poor elderly people with low education levels could hardly find jobs.”

He said he will try to arrange a last-minute meeting with Carrie Lam, together with pro-government lawmakers, to try to convince her to change her mind. But if she doesn’t, he warned, she should prepare to face a public backlash.

“It's really up to the Chief Executive as to whether she would want to push ahead. There’s no law that will prohibit her from stopping this draconian measure”, Cheung said. “So we would like to continue with this last-ditch effort to make her understand that it is important to stop a wrong decision.”

Kwong also said if she refuses to relent, history will remember her as a 'bully' to the elderly.

Pro-government lawmakers have also spoken out against the age change in recent days, but none challenged her on the matter during the QA session.

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