Both top contenders in the chief executive race are cut from the same cloth
John Tsang and Carrie Lam are career civil servants, but that doesn’t mean they will necessarily be good leaders
But since Beijing has given more than hints as to its favoured candidate, pan-dems are mobilising public opinion, quite successfully, to draw artificial differences between Lam and Tsang.
Tsang is the friendly, responsive mandarin while Lam is the female version of the dictatorial Leung, or what Tsang called during the debate “Leung 2.0”.
But both candidates are cut from the same cloth, after spending their entire careers in the civil service. They know how to run a civil service, but not necessarily a government or a quasi-city-state. Their idea of governing is to give a bit of resources and benefits to every major constituent, but neither is likely to commit to any long-overdue economic overhauls or political reforms.
Tsang would become less stingy as chief executive than when he was finance secretary – especially with spending on livelihood matters. Lam would have to learn about balancing the budget and placating the business elite.
Despite the vilification and caricatures, both are probably decent people. I just don’t know whether they make good leaders.