People are dragging a politician for not knowing where to get toilet paper at night

A candidate for Hong Kong's top office couldn't figure out where regular folks buy toilet paper in the middle of the night.

Former chief secretary Carrie Lam, who's running for chief executive of the territory, volunteered an odd anecdote to the press over the weekend. She said in a media session that the first night after moving from her former state residence to a downtown serviced apartment, she discovered she couldn't find toilet paper.

She then resorted to taking a taxi to her former residence to get some -- nevermind that she had a 24-hour supermarket near her Wan Chai apartment, or plenty of 24-hour convenience stores along the way which stock tissue paper.

"I have gone through many changes in life over the last few days. So I need to continue to learn and adapt to a new environment," she was quoted as saying by the Hong Kong Free Press.

Lam is one of four potential candidates for the city's chief executive position, and is regarded as one of Beijing's favourites for the position.

But her anecdote has spun out into a viral thread hashtagged #LooPaperGate (or #廁紙門), where many online are criticising her for being out of touch with "common" life.

Fellow chief executive candidate and former judge Woo Kwok-Hing, clearly couldn't resist a swipe, posting this on his Facebook account:

Woo said: "No toilet paper? I have a joke question for you this morning, to see if you know how to adapt.

"If you have no toilet paper at midnight, you would: (A) use your towels first; (B) go to your neighbours and ask 'I'm so sorry, it's very urgent, can I... (use your toilet?)"; (C) if you're good with your neighbours, go downstairs and see if you can borrow some; (D) go to the convenience store and buy tissues (remember, they're not toilet paper) (E) take a taxi to your official residence to get some, if you have an official residence."

Plenty of brickbats are coming from Hong Kong's citizens too:

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Martin Oei says: "Let me teach you -- just take a taxi to Wellcome Supermarket, there's a lot of toilet paper for you there."

Alan Lau says: "You don't sweat the small stuff if you're high ranking enough, but this isn't the problem -- buying toilet paper, going on the MTR (Hong Kong's subway), is part of taking care of yourself! If you can't take care of yourself, how can you be Chief Executive?"

Tam Chunsun: "If you've realised you don't have any toilet paper after you've done your business, shower or use water to clean yourself! You've no ability to adapt -- so much so that even if you're a ghost you won't haunt properly. And you still say you want to be a leader for Hong Kong?"

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@chowjackie commented: "Your first task as Chief Executive should be: to draft a law requiring convenience stores to have toilet paper!"

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

This gaffe comes just days after Lam was on national TV appearing not to understand how to get through the subway MTR turnstiles.

Lam has said she comes from a working class background, but she has been in the civil service since 1980. She rose to the Chief Secretary position in 2012, which accorded her chauffeurs and state housing.

Per regulation, Lam quit her position in mid-January to run for chief executive.