Laying the foundations for long-term prosperity

Paul Yeung writes that while the current government has laid the foundation for addressing some of HK's pressing issues - such as poverty and housing - further progress lies with future policy addresses

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying delivered his last policy address on Jan 18. Many people did not expect anything new from it as the current administration is in its final phase. But the policy address did give us some surprises. It is the longest one in the history of the Hong Kong SAR. In the conclusion of his speech, Leung said that "Today, all commitments in my election manifesto have basically been implemented". Some may question this statement as the housing, retirement protection, and poverty issues have yet to be completely solved.

To be fair, the current government has done a lot to deal with serious problems facing Hong Kong in the past few years. Re-establishment of the Commission on Poverty, introduction of low-income working family allowance, setting the new Long Term Housing Strategy and facilitating the development of innovation and technology are examples. However, according to Leung's description, besides the "in tray" and "out tray" for most jobs, there is also a "too difficult tray".

Things left in the "too difficult tray" include resolving Hong Kong's housing problems, poverty, a growing aging society and land development. But these are deep-seated and complicated issues which have no immediate solutions.

In confronting the "too difficult tray", the current government had two choices: Either leave them to the next administration or make a last-ditch effort to tackle them. Leung chose the latter and picked the most difficult ones. In his last policy address, we can see significant policy breakthroughs, especially in regard to land and labor issues.

To tackle the land and housing shortage, he proposed a new approach - the possibility of using land in country parks. He suggested that land with more ecological value be protected while land with relatively low ecological value should be developed for public housing. This is a more rational and practical way to resolve the difficult matter of developing country parks.

In regard to labor issues, the government proposed a middle way to abolish the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) offsetting mechanism. The mechanism is a controversial practice. This is because it allows employers to use their contributions to workers' pension funds to offset severance or long-service payments. The labor sector has called for the mechanism to be abolished to protect their rights and interests. But employers argued that this will increase the burden on businesses, especially smaller ones. The proposal tries to strike a balance between the interests of both sides by abolishing the offsetting mechanism while lowering the amount of severance or long-service payments employers are required to pay.

These policy breakthroughs have created a foundation for further discussions. The government decided to commission a feasibility study to identify possible sites for non-profit-making uses at the periphery of country parks with lower ecological values. In regard to the abolition of the MPF offsetting mechanism, the government is going to discuss the proposal with both the business and labor sectors. We should not expect these two issues can be solved by the end of the current government's term. However, the foundation for tackling these issues should be laid down in following months. That's what Leung meant by saying "Nobody in my administration has the mentality of a sunset government."

Such a mentality is different from that of countries practicing party politics, wherein the outgoing administration controlled by one political party usually finds no reasons to adopt favorable policies or solve tricky problems for the next administration to be controlled by another political party. Under the "One Country, Two Systems" principle, the role of the Chief Executive is designed to promote long-term prosperity and the stability of the HKSAR. Therefore, the Chief Executive should be non-partisan and accountable to Hong Kong as well as to the central government. The latest policy address is the last of Leung's government but obviously not the last one to address these issues. From this perspective, we can understand that the new policy address follows the "One Country, Two Systems" principle.

The great US civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr., once said, "We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now." The foundation to resolving the city's deep-seated social problems has been laid down by Leung in his last policy address. However, the problems cannot be resolved without the efforts of every member of the community.