At the close of 2012, we see in retrospect a year of important changes in political and social landscapes. While the SAR continues to prosper, the city's people find themselves facing social issues pressing closer to the surface.

1. President Hu visits HK

President Hu Jintao made a three-day visit to Hong Kong from June 29 to July 1, just in time to administer the oath of office to the SAR's newly elected Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying.

It was the third time Hu had visited Hong Kong and a pivotal moment when Hu offered a retrospective of the SAR's 15 years since the handover. He also presented a vision for the continuing evolution of the "One Country, Two Systems" principle in the years ahead. Hu stressed that the central government will adhere to the framework, while the concept behind it must be correctly understood by the people of Hong Kong.

Addressing the city's high expectations for the new leadership, Hu urged the new administration to strive for harmony and stability, uphold the authority of the Basic Law, enhance the city's competitiveness, and ensure that people's living standards and festering social issues be properly addressed.

During the visit, Hu unveiled 39 measures in support of the SAR.

2. New CE elected

Leung Chun-ying became the third Chief Executive of the Hong Kong SAR in a hard fought election on March 25. Leung polled 689 votes to 285 for his nearest-rival Henry Tang, who had been heavily favored to win early in the campaign.

Leung, formerly Executive Council convenor, was considered an underdog while Tang appeared to be most people's favorite. However, Tang, who resigned from the post of chief secretary in late September, lost public favor after admitting to marital infidelity and becoming embroiled over unauthorized building works at his private residence.

3. Ferry tragedy kills 39

There were 121 people on board the passenger vessel Lamma IV when it sank on the night of Oct 1.

The Hong Kong Electric Company vessel, plying its way to the fireworks show in Victoria Harbour, was struck and fatally holed by Seasmooth, a Hong Kong and Kowloon Ferry Company vessel, not long after sailing from Lamma Island. Thirty-nine people, all on board Lamma IV, died in the National Day collision. More than 100 people were injured in the city's deadliest maritime disaster in more than 40 years. Police arrested seven crew members of the two vessels, indicating that some may face charges of manslaughter. A Commission of Inquiry into the incident was convened on Dec 5.

4. Opposition filibusters busted

Opposition lawmakers spent much of 2012 devoting to derailing government agenda - until a last minute decision by the government to table a new proposal to break the filibuster on the Old Age Living Allowance (OALA).

Prior to this, opposition legislators had jammed the legislative agenda by raising hundreds of motions for amendment. First, they went after a government amendment to change the way legislators were chosen to replace those who resigned without completing their term. The bill was passed on June 1, only after the Legislative Council President Jasper Tsang used his authority to end the debate.

After the opposition managed to kill the administration's reorganization plan, another proposal, on the OALA, came to a deadlock in December. After seven fruitless meetings since October, the government withdrew the main funding request on Dec 7 and replaced it with a proposal to hire civil servants to administer the OALA program. Finance Committee Chairman Tommy Cheung Yu-yan ruled the proposal a new request, thus scrapping all amendments tabled on the old one.

The new proposal was quickly passed. Needy seniors, however, have already lost two months of payments due to the delay.

5. Chaos over parallel traders

Sheung Shui railway station has been flooded by tens of thousands of so-called "parallel traders" from the mainland after the relaxation of the individual travel scheme.

Residents there came up in arms, as they confronted mainland traders jamming rail stations and wheeling around carts packed with goods recklessly.

The authorities implemented several measures to curtail this type of cross border trading. Major targets were mainland residents contravening conditions of stay in the city by carrying on business activities. The MTR Corporation imposed a 32-kilogram weight limit on baggage at Sheung Shui, Fanling, Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau stations.

6. City gets new legislature

The turnout hit a record high as Hong Kong voters threw solid support behind pro-establishment candidates in September to choose a new Legislative Council. Forty-three pro-establishment and independent candidates were voted to sit among the 70 legislators in the fifth Legislative Council, just short of the plurality needed to block the opposition's veto power. Of note in the election, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong emerged as the big winner, taking 13 of the 70 seats in the newly expanded assembly.

7. Influx of mainland mothers

The city is set to bar the doors of its public maternity wards to mainland women in 2013. The decision was the first public policy declaration by Leung Chun-ying after winning the election as the Chief Executive in March.

Roughly 45 percent of the 88,000 babies born in the city in 2010 have mainland mothers, leading to complaints from local mothers-to-be that it had become increasingly difficult to find maternity beds.

The SAR government launched a number of measures to curb the influx of mainland pregnant women, including those who gate-crashed the emergency wards.

Authorities arrested more than 400 mainland mothers after they gave birth in Hong Kong between October 2011 and 2012. Another 3,500 pregnant mainland women were barred from entering Hong Kong.

In April, the then secretary for food and health York Chow announced that public hospitals will cease to take in mainland pregnant women, and private hospitals then also followed suit.

8. Right of abode clarification

The right of abode issue re-emerged as Secretary for Justice Yuen Kwok-keung (in picture) announced in December that the government has suggested that the Court of Final Appeal (CFA) seek an interpretation of the Basic Law and its preparatory documents from the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC).

The administration is hopeful that the move will help the CFA effectively reverse its ruling on the right of abode more than a decade ago.

The current case arises from legal challenges by foreign domestic helpers, claiming they have been unfairly denied the right of abode in Hong Kong. With a hearing scheduled in February, the question bears heavily on the earlier decision by the CFA that all babies born in Hong Kong have the automatic right of abode.

Nonetheless, it is at the discretion of the highest court as to whether it should seek the interpretation.

9. UBWs: A thorny issue

It came down to a nose to nose confrontation as the government, taking a hard line on unauthorized building works (UBWs), found itself up against the New Territories villagers equally determined to defy the law.

Lax oversight and planning loopholes left over from the colonial days led to a proliferation of UBWs. The government decided to take immediate action against village houses that were built higher than permitted, or otherwise presented a safety hazard.

Adamant villagers refused to cooperate in a program to register their UBWs which pose no immediate danger to prevent immediate action by the authorities. Only 800 declarations out of the estimated 35,000 were submitted before a September deadline.

The confrontation continues to defy solution.

10. Former CS, tycoons arrested

Shockwaves rippled through the city's business and financial circles in March, when corruption charges were brought against a former chief secretary for administration and the billionaire Kwok brothers of the giant Sun Hung Kai Group (SHK).

High flying Rafael Hui Si-yan became the highest ranking incumbent or former government official ever to face criminal charges. Hui, who held the number two position under former Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen from 2005 to 2007, faces eight charges involving some HK$34 million.

Also charged were brothers Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong and Raymond Kwok Ping-luen - sons of the third wealthiest family in the city. The joint chairmen of Sun Hung Kai Properties, another SHK executive and a former senior official of the Hong Kong Futures Exchange are charged with conspiracy to offer advantages to a public servant.

The case involves Hong Kong's biggest property developer and the world's second-largest, with a market capitalization of $32 billion, SHK's share price has slumped since the case broke.

(HK Edition 12/29/2012 page1)