Lam 'asking for fight on small houses'

The development chief's call to end the controversial small-house policy has sparked a public debate in which indigenous villagers accused Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor of stirring up a hornets' nest.

Shap Pat Heung Rural Committee chairman Leung Fuk-yuen said: 'Lam is asking for a fight. Our traditional right is protected by the Basic Law.'

Lam, widely tipped to be the next chief secretary, called for the policy to be scrapped in an interview in yesterday's South China Morning Post. She revealed that she had proposed to rural power brokers the Heung Yee Kuk that the policy end in 2029.

Under the policy, male indigenous villagers gain the right at age 18 to build a three-storey house near their ancestral home. The policy has been in effect since 1972, but villagers argue that it should remain until at least 2047, in keeping with the Basic Law's promise of an unchanged way of life for 50 years.

Lam suggested that it would be feasible to draw the line at 2029 - meaning the last villagers to benefit would be those born in that year and who would reach 18 by the end of the 50-year period.

Lam said she had hoped to review the policy in her term but the government had not been ready to tackle it.

'I really hope the matter will be handled seriously and solemnly through detailed research, public discussion and negotiation with the Heung Yee Kuk,' she said. 'We can't say the problem does not exist.'