Monsieur, you would like to go for a duck soup? How about a lame duck

Naturally lame duck is not really the name of a dish but a famous phrase brought up by the late China official responsible for Hong Kong handover, Lu Ping. This was what he cursed on the pre-handover Hong Kong government when the then governor Patten who advocated the electoral reform. The long forgotten term lame duck government came back to live when our "loving" mama, Lam, faces the greatest set back in her life. So is the governance of the SAR government when the same curse makes its second visit.

Following her predecessor C.Y's rout, Lam was appointed in the hope to rebuild a healthy dialogue among the severely torn society with her feminine gentleness. Despite Lam was once labeled as C.Y. 2.0 yet she once did create a honey moon with the opposition camp lawmakers. The hostility among the blue and yellow camp has once calmed down to a certain extent. However, gone were those days when the society had a chance to lick its wound resulting from the political divergence since the emergence of the extradition bill.

Only after Lam's last Saturday announcement on the de facto withdrawal of the Bill, Beijing and the locally China Liaison Office released some routine supportive statements. Pro establishment lawmakers also emerged for speeches as well. Apparently a tone was finalized by the CCP therefore propaganda in all forms started to kick in.

Lam's official description on the handling is suspension but not withdrawal. Of course it will be a secret for good to the public on whether it is Lam's or Beijing's idea on such move. No matter whose, however, this is apparently a bad decision. That failed to act as a clean cut off on the core concern by the public. As expected, the demonstration in the following Sunday still drew hundreds of thousands, if not million, participants. The suspension not only failed to bring the ease on the pressure to the government but otherwise. On the other hand, Lam's apology via the government's announcement is also a stupid action. The apology is criticized as lack of sincerity so is rejected by the public.

In the game of politic, if one's action is not out from autonomy but forced to, this puts him/her in the underdog position. Lam was forced to suspend the bill and to make the apology. This is already a total loss of her alpha image in the past. As and when the pressure on withdrawal of the bill and her personal appearance on apology mounts and Lam is pressurized to follow, her leadership will just go totally bankrupt. Lam will be literally a sunset chief executive and a lame duck government is not far away then.

Chef, a lame duck in hot soup, please.