Figures about Hong Kong's poverty situation released yesterday by the government indicate that, despite huge funds have been spent on poverty alleviation, there are still as many as nearly one million people struggling under the poverty line. The most serious is the problem of elderly poverty, as some 30% of elderly people living in poverty. It is really a shame for Hong Kong, known for its prosperity and wealth, to have one million people haunted by the nightmare of poverty.
Last year, Hong Kong's poor people totaled about 960,000, and the poverty rate was 14.3%. In particular, the number of poor elderly people aged 65 and over sharply increased by 9,000 from the previous year to reach 294,000. The number of working poor people also stood as high as 460,000.
In recent years, the government has spent huge public funds on poverty alleviation, with this year's expenditure on welfare reaching $59.7 billion, a 52% growth in six years' time. Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor also admitted that despite government's, all-out effort, Hong Kong's poverty situation just tends to stabilise and can hardly be said as improving.
At present, deep-layer contradictions concerning people's livelihood in Hong Kong are not reconciled. For instance, land supply is out of balance, shortage of residential housing steadily increases, abnormally high housing prices continue to swallow citizens' remaining spending power, high-end employment opportunities are wanting in the unbalanced economic structure, the population is aging quickly, and the growing elderly poverty rate cannot be curbed, etc. Spending public funds to subsidise can only temporarily apply a plaster to cover up the huge abscess of poverty. Nevertheless, without the root cause removed, the spreading speed of the disease of poverty can hardly be checked, and application of the welfare "plaster" will sooner or later become unsustainable. The widening wealth gap is bound to intensify social conflicts to cause social turmoil, and destroy the prosperity of this Pearl of the Orient overnight.
Conditions for Hong Kong to get rid of poverty are not lacking. For example, there are some 70% of land that has yet to be developed, Hong Kong - a tiny place as it is - has a financial reserve of $3 trillion, and it has world class higher educational institutions with a number of scientific research achievements leading the world, etc.
More importantly, Hong Kong has the backing of the Motherland with vast stretches of land, it has the blessed advantage of "one country two systems", it has the Central Government's full support for development, and it has the huge national market and numerous development opportunities. If all Hong Kong people are of the same mind and committed to development, Hong Kong's economy is bound to take a qualitative leap.
However, it is exactly in economic development that Hong Kong can hardly take a step forward in recent years.
One of the major causes for this is that the opposition wantonly obstruct the government’s administration at the Legislative Council (Legco), seeking their selfish political benefits at the expense of public interests. The Legco, right from the beginning of this year's session, has fallen into the endless nightmare of filibustering. As a result, various motions concerning economic development and people's livelihood have piled up. Even an Innovation & Technology Bureau, which is to promote economic diversification in Hong Kong, cannot be set up.
Last year, filibustering also took place endlessly at Legco. Just the filibustering by way of requesting a headcount already wasted 70 meeting hours and caused seven meetings to be aborted (for lack of a quorum), wasting over $16 million taxpayers money. Infrastructure projects held up due to filibustering last year have to pay an extra $2.5 billion for increased construction costs.
Street violent political actions carried forward from last year's Occupy Central, such as "shopping campaign", "recovery action", "indigenous movement", and "Hong Kong University concern group", etc. also become an important factor hampering Hong Kong's development. A minority of rampaging political mobsters have occupied roads, besieged officials, charged police cordons, ambushed citizens, attacked shops for tourists, and forced their way into a HKU council meeting to insult teachers and respectful people. In this way, they have damaged Hong Kong's core value of the rule of law, hurt feelings of people on both the Mainland and Hong Kong to cause damages to tourism and related industries that are crucial Hong Kong's labour market.
The only way to root out poverty is to concentrate on development. How can citizens continue allowing the opposition's violent political actions to severely hamper the government's administration and obstruct development, causing damages to Hong Kong's economy, people's livelihood and democratisation?
Receiving a delegation of Hong Kong's Disciplinary Forces visiting Beijing some days ago, Zhang Dejiang, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), sincerely advised Hong Kong people that "prosperity and development is the foundation, and the rule of law and stability is the cornerstone". Right now, external economic situation is rough. Hong Kong should and could no longer bear the misfortune of politicisation. Citizens should expel anti-China and trouble-making politicians with their votes, so as to safeguard democracy and the rule of law, to concentrate on development to root out poverty, and to keep pace with the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
12 October 2015