Opinion | As Hong Kong’s protests rage on, Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung has become an inadvertent voice of reason

While Hong Kong’s second most senior official sparked ridicule when he said he could not point to the exact source of public anger in the absence of a public-opinion poll, such a survey is urgently needed

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Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, then acting chief executive, meets the press before an Executive Council meeting at the government headquarters in Tamar, Admiralty, on October 22. Photo: May Tse

Published: 5:00pm, 17 Nov 2019Updated: 5:00pm, 17 Nov 2019

Let’s give the devil his due. Hong Kong’s second-in-command Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, deserves a round of applause for being shamelessly honest.

He told the Legislative Council on November 13 that he doesn’t know what the biggest cause of public anger is at the moment. He pointed out that the extradition bill, which sparked the mass protests in early June, has long been withdrawn and that he didn’t have an opinion poll at hand to find out what else exactly is behind the lingering public anger.

Don’t laugh at him. Being chief secretary is not easy. He is responsible for implementing government policy and overseeing the administration of the entire territory. All government departments report to him. It means reading a mountain of files, acting on them and attending a string of meetings every day.

Amid all that, if Cheung couldn’t find the time to read newspapers or listen to RTHK’s morning programme to find out what exactly is firing up protesters to risk their lives, it is understandable. A public opinion survey, as he said, would surely be the best way to gauge the public pulse.

Anti-government protesters hold a rally in Central during lunch hour on November 13. Photo: Nora Tam

Those mocking Cheung should note that he accords public opinion the respect it deserves. Certainly, he takes it more seriously than his boss, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor.