She’s a career bureaucrat who’s risen to become leader of Hong Kong, he’s a Cantopop star and one of the city’s most famous actors.
But, guys, Carrie Lam and Andy Lau have feelings, and you tried to hurt them, you bullies.
Well, Lam suggested as much, calling herself and Lau “victims of cyberbullying” after the pair were criticized online for declaring their support for a controversial land reclamation project.
Hong Kong’s leader made the comments on the weekend during a seminar at the University of Hong Kong by education think-tank 2.1, reported HK01.
In a segment dealing with the topics like “young people living positively” and “social media” Lam levelled with the audience. She gets it.
“In recent years, the information explosion created by social media has been affecting young people’s values, and many countries have been troubled by issues like online gaming addiction and cyberbullying,” she said.
“For instance, I myself and Mr Andy Lau have become targets of cyberbullying because of the same issue.”
That “same issue” is a reference to a massive land reclamation project slated for the coast of Lantau Island.
Lam backed building the artificial islands in her recent annual policy address.
Lau, meanwhile, provided the voiceover for a video by Our Hong Kong Foundation — a think tank led by the city’s first chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa — which also supported the land reclamation project.
While supporters say that the artificial islands will solve the city’s land supply problem and also provide housing for more than a million people, critics argue that project, as well as being exceedingly costly , will negatively impact the environment and marine wildlife.
They argue that, rather than build new islands, the government should consider developing the city’s brownfield sites for housing.
Lam identifying herself as a victim of cyberbullying didn’t win her much sympathy.
Chung Kim-wah — a professor from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and social commentator — told Ming Pao that the concept of cyberbullying didn’t really apply to politicians like it might to young people.
Meanwhile, pro-democracy lawmaker Claudia Mo rejected Lam’s claims of being bullied as “funny and interesting,” according to Apple Daily.
She noted that, normally, bullying involves someone with power intimidating someone who is weak.
Given Lam was very much in the driver’s seat here — pushing for land reclamation without consulting the public and waiting for recommendations from the land supply task force — she said it was hard to see the chief executive as the victim.
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