At the Kellogg-Hong Kong University of Science and Technology MBA 20th Anniversary Management Conference last year, Lam said: “My vision for Hong Kong is very simple. It is for a Hong Kong of hope and happiness … In order to achieve that vision, I have derived or designed for myself and my team what I call a new governance style, new government roles, and a new fiscal philosophy.”

Lam must have thought that the old way of working was too inefficient, so much so that she decided to initiate negotiations and make deals without consulting the very people she would need to secure votes from to actually carry out her plans. This could be seen in the government’s handling of its proposal to readjust cross-harbour tunnel tolls to ease traffic congestion. For something that would cost the government HK$1 billion and effectively translate into a price hike of up to double for cross-tunnel road users, it’s naive to think people would just say “OK, thanks!”

We don’t doubt Lam is big on vision, which was evident in her very ambitious Lantau Tomorrow Vision that entails creating, by reclamation, 1,700 hectares of land. In fact, Lam is so big on vision that she had to roll this out before her Task Force on Land Supply submitted its recommendations following a massive public consultation exercise. Again, we see her “new governance style” of impatience getting in the way of her vision. Maybe that line in the fortune stick drawn – “drew a bun, but it was not fragrant” – is about that vision.

And what about her “new fiscal philosophy”? Lam’s costly Lantau Tomorrow Vision, if implemented, is estimated to use up half of the city’s reserves – HK$500 billion, so we know that Lam doesn’t mind spending. But that generosity apparently does not extend to the city’s elderly poor, as we know from the government plan – now aborted because of public outrage – to raise the retirement age for elderly welfare recipients.

Instead of deciphering fortune sticks, it’s much more interesting to read the financial secretary’s words. Paul Chan Mo-po made it a point to suggest in his blog that the public should not expect him to roll out or adjust major social policies as that was the job of the chief executive.

While we shouldn’t expect surprises, especially pleasant ones, in the upcoming budget, Chan’s words sound ominous indeed. The budget had better not mention anything about footing the bill for some government grand plan, as having fewer sweeteners already means that it’ll be a rough year. Lam’s HK$500 billion Lantau Tomorrow Vision will be simply too much for the public to stomach.