Opinion / Liang Hongfu
Reform Dickensian Hong Kong
By Hong Liang (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-05-18 15:20
Economists in Hong Kong seem to agree that the widening gap between rich
and poor is threatening to erode the social fabric on which the vibrant
economy is imprinted.
The latest warning came from Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, a member of the
Executive Council. Citing "escalating class conflicts" as a cause of
"social turbulence" a few years ago, Cheung wrote that the "widening
wealth gap remains a concern" despite the economic recovery and the
improved standing of the government.
As a member of the august policy making body, Cheung is not known to be
an alarmist. So his rather blunt comments have brought into sharp focus
the urgency of the issue.
Narrowing the wealth gap poses a particularly knotty problem for the Hong
Kong government, which is expected by the business sector to adhere to
its long-standing non-intervention policy. Any perceived attempt by the
government to get involved in the redistribution of wealth would almost
certainly be interpreted by the business sector as a brutal violation of
sacrosanct free enterprise.
The opposition to the proposed minimum wage law shows that the hard-nosed
business sector is not in any mood to yield an inch of ground in the
fight to preserve the Hong Kong-style capitalist way of life.
Ignoring the risk of appearing heartless, they contend that the open
economy of Hong Kong, free from undue government intervention, provides
ample opportunity for capable people to move up the social ladder without
government help.
Indeed, there is no shortage of business tycoons, successful
professionals and senior civil servants who were born to poor families
and grew up in low-cost housing estates. But these rag-to-riches
anecdotes only tell part of the Hong Kong story. The other part tells the
tale of people laboring hard all their lives for goals that proved
ultimately elusive.
Read Cheung's almost Dickensian prose: "The wages of high-income groups
are rising much faster than the lower classes, and even the middle
classes are worried about downward mobility. Many grass-roots workers
toil very long hours and there are occasional reports of some working
themselves to death."
So it seems that the Hong Kong economic structure, though symbolized by
gleaming office towers rather than dark Satanic mills, has spawned social
dilemmas that are not too distant from those of Dickensian England.
"There is no denying that our (Hong Kong) economic structure easily
renders low-skilled workers - with the least bargaining power in the
labor market - unemployed or underemployed," wrote Cheung.
The wealth-gap dilemma is also hitting the young people and the
lower-middle class, whose self-esteem, according to Cheung and others,
has been seriously eroded by their declining earning power. Many of them
have become so disillusioned that they have given up pursuit of the
middle-class dream.
All eyes are now on the government. It needs to be seen as taking the
lead in ensuring that the majority of the populace does not feel its
well-being has been sacrificed in the economic recovery and the
longer-term economic restructuring.
Nobody in Hong Kong is seriously lobbying for government handouts. But
conscientious economists and political analysts are urging the government
to introduce the minimum wage. This banner of social justice and fair
play would give hope to the growing number of workers at the lowest rungs
of the social strata.
Supporting a minimum wage would be tantamount to taking a collective
stand against blatant exploitation of the weakest and most
underprivileged citizens. This is our starting point in building a
harmonious society where nobody needs to work to death attempting to earn
a living.
E-mail: jamesleung@chinadaily.com.cn
(China Daily 05/18/2007 page10)
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