Lead by example, Mr Tsang - Paul Zimmerman

During a luncheon organised by the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, Chief Secretary Donald Tsang Yam-kuen addressed business leaders and asked for their support in two specific areas.

First, he invited corporations to invest in the local workforce, and specifically to help train Hong Kong people and prepare them for new economic challenges. Second, he asked local business leaders to participate in politics, and to speak up collectively. Regrettably, he did not take questions, and left without hearing a reply from the business leaders.

Business executives have been speaking up individually, as well as collectively, for years, but their calls for action from the government have fallen on deaf ears. The Tung administration has been urged on numerous occasions to slash public expenditure, streamline and reorganise its operations, and reduce civil service salary levels. But little has been done.

The business community has participated in consultations on the roles of the Stock Exchange and the Securities and Futures Commission, and recommended changes - only to see their ideas disregarded. Many in business have expressed grave concern over the development of West Kowloon, but plans are still being pushed ahead regardless. Business leaders have voiced concern over the ongoing destruction of Hong Kong's foreshore, which is being wiped out to make way for more highways. They have stressed the need to overhaul our taxation and public revenue system with the introduction of a direct sales tax, and to reduce our dependence on land sale. The list goes on. But their calls have been ignored.

Greater business participation requires first a culture change in Hong Kong's bureaucracy. The starting point will be a clear vision, and honesty and transparency in all communications. Without elected government leaders, the various bureaus and departments will have to refocus their resources to support alternative forms of public participation in the policymaking process. Our government must allow a genuine choice by providing well-defined alternatives based on mutually agreed agendas.

That would be a dramatic change for a bureaucracy geared towards process control, the incremental implementation of pre-cooked plans, and public justification exercises masquerading as consultation.

Corporations work in highly competitive markets where growth follows market opportunities. Hong Kong's economy is going through a process of creative destruction, and the faster we adjust to new economic realities, the sooner we create new jobs again. The largest employer in town, the government, is still holding on to unrealistic salaries and unnecessary staff levels, refusing to outsource operations to the private sector, and overspending and over-engineering infrastructural projects based on outdated population forecasts. Our administration has proved to be too disjointed to be able to follow through overriding strategies and policies, or make timely adjustments for a changing environment. This is not conducive to a dynamic market and a speedy turnaround in job opportunities.

The onus is on our government leaders to overhaul their operations and system of governance. Mr Tsang quoted the prayer of St Francis of Assisi at the end of his speech, but he omitted, among other things: "For it is in giving that we receive." If the government wants to receive more trust from the community, it ought to give more trust to the people. If the government wants more input from the business community, it must deliver on the need for change.

Paul Zimmerman is executive director of MF Jebsen International, principal of the Experience Group, a policy and strategy consultancy, and chief co-ordinator of Designing Hong Kong Harbour District.