Six questions for Hong Kong chief executive candidates Woo Kwok-hing and Carrie Lam
The Post put questions to the candidates about their priorities, inclusiveness, resignation, independence, housing and foreign judges; John Tsang Chun-wah declined to take part, citing a tight schedule
If you are elected, what do you plan to do in your first 100 days? What will be your top priority?
Woo: My top priority is to reboot the political reform process so that the chief executive can be elected by universal suffrage in 2022. Until and unless this bone of contention over democratisation is resolved, the government will remain a lame duck bogged down by a dysfunctional Legislative Council.
I will appoint a broadly-based consultative conference to sort out labour and welfare issues, including how to implement a universal pension scheme.
As a symbol of social conciliation, I will have the iron gates insulating the Central Government Offices at Tamar from the people dismantled.
I will not take to the woods under any circumstances
Lam: If I am so fortunate to be elected the next chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, the first 100 days of office for me will start much earlier than July 1, 2017, when the next term of government officially begins. Instead, I’d like to start as soon as practicable after election day on March 26 to address the urgent issues awaiting resolution. As I have stated in my election manifesto, the education sector needs urgent consideration particularly given my proposal for an annual HK$5 billion in new resources to be injected as recurrent expenses.
To achieve that, we need to seek agreement among all stakeholders in the education sector, regardless of political affiliation. Indeed we have to make good our campaign slogan and connect with everyone to heal our divisiveness.
