Hong Kong Core Values Under Threat - Albert Lai

Every community defines itself by the intrinsic core values it believes in. Hong Kong is no exception.

Hong Kong prides itself as a modern, cosmopolitan city grown from its Chinese roots. It thus shares, or at least aspires to, many universal values common with modern societies in today's world: freedom of expression, rule of law, democracy, social equity, fair play, tolerance, intellectual honesty, amongst a host of other evolving values essential to sustainable development: diversity, reconciliation with nature, intra-generational equity and the right for individuals to have access to decision-making in public policies.

In our social, political and daily lives, these core values are not only the yardstick of what is right or wrong, it even shapes the relationship between the governing and governed. Hence any erosion of these core values has the potential to change the nature of a Hong Kong we think we know today. It is an overriding issue above politics.

A couple of recent cases may help explain the gravity of the matter.

The seven high-rise residential buildings in Hung Hom Pennisula were built under the Home Ownership Scheme, the original intent of which was to use public resource to assist lower-middle income families who could not afford private housing. Under much pressure from developers the Scheme was discontinued to make way for the sale of private properties. Whilst it is debateable as to whether this policy may be justified by the side benefits for the society at large, it was never intended that the original public resource allocated to subsidise low-income families would be diverted in any form to benefit private developers. Yet this was exactly what happened after the low-cost transfer of these 2470 brand new flats to two major developers.

Has the core value of social equity been upheld in these decisions?

Furthermore, under the disguise of a pre-existing public-private partnership arrangement, the flats were transferred to two developers without going through any open bidding process although the government was fully empowered to do so if it chose to first buy back the residual rights of the developers concerned.

Was the core value of fair play a loser in such a move?

Having obtained the flats at below-market value, the developers are now sounding out the desirability of demolishing the buildings to make way for luxury flats for extra profits. If this comes true, taxpayers may have to foot the bill of over $ 25 million of waste disposal costs for the developers. The net outcome is more landfills and speedier environmental degradation in the New Territories.

If paying due respect for nature is our core value, the creation of 200,000 tonnes of waste through demolishing brand new buildings is the most effective way to go against it.

Take another example: the development of West Kowloon Cultural District

The controversy arising from the government's insistence to lump all elements of this mega-project - cultural, commercial, residential - into one single tender is still on-going. The issue at stake is not whether one or more developers will get a slice of the profits, but whether the core value of fair market competition enjoys any paramount status.

More importantly, given that this is the single largest development project in the metro district for decades to come, the level of public participation in the decision-making process, not mere consultation, is abysmal compared with the huge public interest at stake. One of the core values of sustainable development is the public's access to decision-making in strategic policies. Is this core value another sacrifice here?

Try digging up the rationale behind more recent incidents: the Harbourfest fiasco, the official inaction against ongoing destruction of many NT streams, the uncontrolled illegal dumping in Lam Tsuen, the Equal Opportunities Commission saga - the picture is dismal.

Many observers have pointed out that intellectual honesty, equitable due process, the rule of law and the freedom of speech are all casualties of the recent developments in the Central government's newly-defined relationship with the SAR. These core values are inseparable from those essential to good governance.

The frozen status of constitutional arrangements only aggravates the tendency of cronyism which, like cancer, grows at the expense of the core values we treasure.

Albert Lai Kwong Tak
Chairman, The Conservancy Association

Originally published on 1 June, 2004, SCMP