November, 2005

Tsang's Policy Blueprint Fails to Address the Needs of Hong Kong's People

Rose Wu

In line with Beijing's advocacy of a harmonious society and people-based governance, Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen pledged to secure a "people-based" government which pursues excellent governance, a harmonious community and widespread economic growth in his maiden policy address entitled "Strong Governance for the People" on Oct. 12. He mapped out reforms of the Executive Council (Exco), major modifications to the ministerial system and the establishment of a 100-member enlarged advisory body on long-term political, economic and development issues.

As many commentators observed, Tsang's policy blueprint unravels many of the administrative changes introduced by his predecessor Tung Chee-hwa. However, his reforms on strengthening Exco, expanding the Commission on Strategic Development and rejuvenating the membership of advisory boards and statutory bodies were efforts to bring Hong Kong back to the colonial era in which civil servants ran the government and its legitimacy to govern was built on a system of appointing elite members of the community to advisory bodies.

Delivering no new initiatives on executive-legislature relations, the chief executive said bluntly that sharing power with the legislature was totally out of the question. "It's important to remember that it's now an executive-led government. The Basic Law does not mention power-sharing," Tsang said after his speech.

As we study Tsang's policy address more closely, there are at least two main concerns that we as Christians must point out and seek to change from a bottom-up approach.

First, beneath all the rhetoric of the policy address, there is a philosophy of government that will further enhance the power of the chief executive.

"We will consider creating within our executive agencies a small number of positions dedicated to political affairs," said Tsang. "Their main duty will be to support the chief executive and principal officials in their political work. This will provide a new channel for people with political aspirations to join the government. It will also allow civil servants aspiring to a political career to leave the civil service to take part in politics."

As Hong Kong-based journalist and commentator Philip Bowring noted, under this trend of political development, those who want to be part of the political structure need to start by joining it and supporting the leadership. Those who may want to participate in politics to change the system or policies are not welcome. In other words, the government's accountability will be primarily about accountability to the chief executive.

We must point out that as long as the government lacks the mandate to govern from the people legitimacy and credibility will not be established. The only way forward for effective governance is to foster and implement a fully democratic political system in which people can have their voices heard through the power of ballots.

Secondly, in addition to the emphasis on executive-led governing, Tsang's appointment of eight new members to Exco has sparked public fears of possible conflicts of interest with the members collectively having directorships in more than 50 local and overseas companies and extensive business links with one another. Professionals and business people are prominent among the new members. Moreover, of Exco's 15 non-official members, six are professionals, five have a business background and three represent political groups. Labour unionists commented that Tsang's appointments clearly indicate his bias toward the views of the professional and business elites.

We must stress that the appointment of mainly business elites with no grassroots ties not only runs contrary to Tsang's vision that the revamped body would promote public participation and greater accountability, but it also leads to the danger that the views of the grassroots—the unemployed, single parents, the disabled, low-wage workers and those who depend on only a few thousand dollars in comprehensive social security a month—will not be heard.

Although Tsang mentioned upholding social justice and helping the poor in his policy address, his approach to tackling poverty is based on maintaining the doctrine of self-reliance, which is to help the poor help themselves. Instead of legislating a minimum wage and improving direct social security assistance for the poor and disabled, the government continues to reinforce the ideology that, if a person is poor, it is because of their laziness or inability to improve their capabilities. Therefore, it is important for us to break the myth of the Hong Kong spirit of self-reliance and resilience and reorient our social policies by putting people before profit.

In order to bring hope to the poor and oppressed, I believe that the role of the Church is not only to provide social services and education but also to secure social justice as well as to shape public policies on political reform. The greatest moral question in Hong Kong's politics today is related not only to seeking a fully democratic system so that each citizen will have equal voting rights; rather, we should also ask tough questions, such as what is our prosperity for? Will it merely serve as an excuse to forget those left behind and our degraded environment?

While the government further liberalises our market economy on the principle of "big market, small government" and focuses on creating wealth but not with distributing that wealth, how does the Church come together to affirm God's vision of a good and just society and make overcoming poverty a religious and moral commitment?

Christian hope is not something in one's imagination; it is rooted in determination with action. Determination for hope is based on what we believe at our deepest level and how we act. Christians choose hope, not as a naive wish, but as a choice and a faith commitment.

In reality, there seems not much hope for the poor in Hong Kong as well as in the rest of the world. However, I believe there is hope when Christian faith is no longer defined only by doctrine but by action and compassion.