It was good to hear Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu say in last week’s policy address that his “ultimate objective in governance is to improve people’s livelihood” and recognising that the government must prioritise the well-being of the people to improve the health of the economy. It’s good because we are finally recognising that people are behind the success of Hong Kong and those good stories he wants everyone to tell.

Reactions to the latest policy address have been generally positive. Lee covered a lot of ground and hit the right notes by addressing the public confidence crisis, aggravated by recent scandals that shed light on the administrative flaws and failures for something as simple as the procurement of drinking water for government premises. He went straight into establishing an accountability system for the heads of departments in his efforts to push further civil service reforms.

The scandal revealed that well-established systems from the past are no longer sufficient in 2025. Given how long it took for the government to respond, it seems that Lee may not have been running a tight ship, if you will, given that he has likened his role to the captain of a ship.

He said his government had been accelerating development for the past three years, and he was right to open his address by pointing out that the country is concluding the national 14th five-year plan and is already preparing for the 15th five-year plan.

Leaders in Beijing have pushed for the Northern Metropolis development to be speeded up. Lee told lawmakers back in May that he felt a “burning urgency” to expedite the project. So why didn’t he set up the committee then?