Sunday, 7 February 2010
It’s time Beijing sent us our own Lee Kuan Yew
The time has come to call a spade a spade. In this period of heightening polarisation over issues like constitutional reform and the election of the next chief executive, it is imperative that Hong Kong as a whole should get its act together and work towards the twin objectives so desired by all. These are a stable society offering equal opportunities and a harmonious atmosphere affording room and scope to develop latent potential.
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It’s time Beijing sent us our own Lee Kuan Yew
C.P. Ho
05 February 2010
The time has come to call a spade a spade. In this period of heightening polarisation over issues like constitutional reform and the election of the next chief executive, it is imperative that Hong Kong as a whole should get its act together and work towards the twin objectives so desired by all. These are a stable society offering equal opportunities and a harmonious atmosphere affording room and scope to develop latent potential.
The government is doing its best, particularly in the area of political and economic reforms. On constitutional changes and the election of the next chief executive it is shaping ideas and proposals into a working consensus.
But whatever proposals it puts forward, they will come under fire from one sector or another; people are stressed and fired up, particularly those among the so-called post- 1980s generation.
Admittedly, as a special administrative region, the government can only do so much. It has to abide by the “one country, two systems” philosophy and the Basic Law.
These two tenets have enabled Hong Kong to weather a number of crises but, to borrow a phrase, the natives are becoming restless. Hong Kong may run its own affairs (except for foreign relations and defence), but it is no secret that officials here have to heed advice and suggestions from the leaders in Beijing.
The system works but it leaves little to the imagination; the local government is on strings. The chief executive has to report to Beijing and the outcome of his duty visits - to brief Beijing or be briefed, and sometimes admonished - are no secret. Indeed, they are actually highly visible and public affairs.
If the public’s general perception of the local government is that it is led by Beijing - as it should be, because Hong Kong is part of China - then there is merit in the argument that the central government should perhaps send a high-level official to oversee affairs here.
Before the handover this role was undertaken by the head of the Xinhua News Agency. His role was more political than journalistic and the British colonial government in Hong Kong made contact, whenever the need arose, with him and his assistants in the “news agency”.
Nowadays, the head of the central government’s liaison office plays a similar role but keeps a low profile, principally out of respect for “one country, two systems” and the Basic Law.
But to stop the erosion of its authority and governance the Hong Kong administration has to think outside the box. The two central government tenets do not, in fact, rule out the idea of having a high-level Chinese official giving advice and suggestions, in private and in public.
Who that official would be is, of course, vital. He or she must be someone known to be capable and well-liked, especially among Hong Kong people.
Preferably the official would be near retirement age or already retired but with close ties to top leaders in Beijing. If the official speaks Cantonese, so much the better.
One example of such an official is former premier Zhu Rongji, once known as “one-chop Zhu” during his days as mayor of Shanghai, when he dispensed with bureaucracy and paved the way for more efficiency by approving projects with just one signature chop.
He was widely acclaimed and applauded when he visited Hong Kong. Alas it is a sure bet he will not come out of retirement.
The choice of title for such an official is also important as there will be, in the initial stages at least, resistance to the idea. But Hong Kong has to get real and admit openly that it has to follow the advice and suggestions of the central government.
And here Singapore has something to offer by way of Lee Kuan Yew’s title: let Hong Kong have a “mentor” from Beijing.
C.P. Ho, a former news agency correspondent and television executive, writes occasional articles for newspapers and magazines
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