Letter to Hong Kong (2006-10-22)

Dear Yan Yan,

It was about 2 months ago that I last wrote you and told you about the problem of poverty in Hong Kong. I hope that you have an idea of the plight of the poor and the extreme condition in which they are living. It is generally believed that there are more than a million Hong Kong people living in poverty, and they have difficulties to make their ends meet. Many of these families continue to experience hardship and are forced to face the dread of life. It is emotional draining to see so much suffering and despair in an affluent society like Hong Kong.

Many people, including myself, expected that the Hong Kong Government would address some of these problems, including the problem of poverty, in the Policy Address. Therefore, it is unimaginative that the Government chose to ignore to address such serious social and political problems. The Government has disappointed the public again, and failed to fulfill their basic public responsibility. It is a shame to see such gross negligence of our government. Our political leaders just don ’ t seem to have a will to provide any leadership to eradicate social ills and have no desire to improve the living condition of the poor. Out of frustration, I and Long Hair condemned the Chief Executive in the last Council ’ s meeting, and we were thrown out of the Council. We were told that we did not follow proper Council procedure. On my way out of the chamber, I was wondering why it wasn ’ t those who ignore their duties and responsibility that were thrown out of office.

Although a lot of Hong Kong people continue to suffer, the basic economic and political systems remain unchanged. The tycoons continue to dominate Hong Kong ’ s politics and economy, and their influences and wealth continue to grow. Market monopoly has become more serious and apparent, and small business can merely survive.

In the Chief Executive ’ s Policy Address, he refused to tackle the problem of market monopoly and continued to refuse to legislate on minimum wages. Perhaps he didn ’ t want to offend the tycoon and thus his opportunity to be re-elected. This is why in his Policy Address that he didn ’ t even mention the possibility of legislation on fair competition.

One of the most talk-about issues in this year ’ s Policy Address is GST. The Government wants to introduce GST, and accuses those who opposed GST are vote snatchers. It is uncomfortable to see appointed officials, who has no political mandate, to accuse elected representatives in such manner. I don ’ t know if they know who are the people that they represent?