Putting the people first

Putting the people first

In a long and varied career, public servant Carrie Lam has dedicated herself to improving the quality of life for Hong Kong’s citizens.

With her versatility and no-nonsense approach to work, Carrie Lam has won approval on many fronts for helping to improve the well-being of people in Hong Kong.

“Rather than just dishing out money, I tried to inject some entrepreneurship into the way in which we run social services in order to encourage and promote self-reliance among the Hong Kong people. I was very pleased with the result”

As chief secretary for administration, she is the second most powerful official in the territory next to Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying. Her main goal these days is to meet the increasing demands and aspirations of people for more public services, without threatening the low-tax regime that has made Hong Kong one of the world’s top places for doing business.

“My heart really goes out for the well-being of the people. I always wanted to work in the public sector because I believe this is the only way I can serve them,” Mrs Lam told Asia Focus during an exclusive interview in Bangkok. “After graduation, I only applied for a job in the civil service and I’ve worked in almost 20 positions within the government ever since.”

Her ability to lead and devote her efforts to people was apparent while at secondary school where she was involved in many voluntary activities. She studied sociology at university where she also got involved in the student union and campaigned for social justice.

As a result of those experiences, she developed a conviction about working in a job that would provide the opportunity to deliver social change, and she has found a lot of satisfaction over the course of a 33-year career.

One of the achievements of which Mrs Lam is proudest is the improvement of the social safety net in the territory, long regarded as one of the world’s great bastions of capitalism and free enterprise.

“After the 1997 Asian financial crisis, a lot of people were out of jobs and they all came forward for social security,” she recalled. “I realised then that it is very important for the government to find a sustainable social welfare system to help them.

“Rather than just dishing out money, I tried to inject some entrepreneurship into the way in which we run social services in order to encourage and promote self-reliance among the Hong Kong people. I was very pleased with the result.”

Being a senior government official requires high level of discipline, commitment and respect for the society in which one has to serve, but ultimately having a great vision is of paramount importance. Mrs Lam had a chance to demonstrate her abilities to the fullest in 2007 when she was appointed as Secretary for Development for a five-year term.

During that period, she pressed ahead with various initiatives in pursuit of diversified, balanced and sustainable development. They included a new heritage conservation policy to revitalise historic buildings through a partnership scheme, the Conserving Central campaign, and a new urban renewal strategy aimed at putting people at first. She also helped to spearhead new building legislation and support programmes, policy measures to promote green buildings, and the creation of Hong Kong’s first Zero Carbon Building.

“I don’t want Hong Kong to be just a city with high-rise buildings but a city where people desire to live and work,” she said. “During those years, we rebuilt and enhanced the harbourfront and added more open spaces and green areas for people to utilise.”

Part of her work also included the ambitious plan to turn Kowloon East into a new central business district (CBD). The project is estimated to cost more than HK$100 billion and won’t be entirely completed until 2023.

“Apart from high growth and economic development, Hong Kong is trying to be a city which has the vibrancy that embraces cultures and historical attachments,” said Mrs Lam.

Asked about her current biggest concern among the social issues seen in Hong Kong, she puts housing at the top of the list.

“Because of the rising property prices and the very long waiting times for people who want to go into public rental housing, finding accommodation for our people is considered the major problem at this moment. This has been the top priority for this term of government.

“On a 10-year basis, we need more housing of up to 470,000 units and the challenge is how we can find the land to build them.”

One of the most difficult challenges during her career came when she served at the Treasury, looking after government’s finances and expenditures.

“After the [1997] financial crisis, we were suffering from a budget deficit; however, we had already introduced and were building the social welfare system. The challenge then was how we could continue to provide government services with less money.”

In 2000, Mrs Lam introduced the Enhanced Productivity Programme (EPP) across the public sector, requiring departments and agencies to put forward proposals for new or improved services that would not require any additional financial resources. As civil service salaries in Hong Kong were a big part of government expenditure, reducing headcount became inevitable.

“Reducing headcount and redundancy is a very painful process,” she said. “But fortunately we were still able to rise to the challenge by enhancing productivity and efficiency. Civil servants were offered voluntary retirement under which we would give them extra compensation. This helped us to be able to manage.”

During her recent trip to Bangkok, Mrs Lam touched base with a number of business and political contacts to talk about the growing relationship between Hong Kong and Asean. She notes that the region has become the second largest investment and trading partner for Hong Kong after mainland China, adding that a proposed Asean-Hong Kong free-trade agreement would bring huge benefits for both parties.

“Asean can use Hong Kong as the bridge to enter the mainland China market, particularly under the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) which Hong Kong has signed with its Chinese counterpart. If Asean companies register and set up their businesses in Hong Kong, they will be able to enjoy exactly the same trade privileges in accessing the Chinese market,” she explained.

During her two-and-a-half day trip to Thailand, her schedule was packed with 15 appointments, including visits, dinners and meetings with ministers. As a mother of two with a career that requires most of her time, Mrs Lam says she does not get a chance to meet her two sons that often, especially now that they are in the UK. However, they spend quality time together whenever it is possible.

Despite her busy schedule, as a Catholic, Sunday is very important for her. She always tries to find time to fit in a get-together with friends to enjoy Cantonese yum cha (tea) and some badminton games to keep herself physically healthy.

“When I feel tired, I will read a book,” she said. “I’m interested in biographies because you can learn a lot from distinguished people.”

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT