Much of our social resentment can be traced to our wealth disparities. The past go-go decade has been grand for our super-rich, but awful for the poor and middle class. We don't want the rich to get poorer. But we need to make the poor less poor and the middle class richer. This will make a fairer society with less acrimony.

By rolling out a series of measures to help the poor, elderly and lower middle class on his first day in our rowdy legislature, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has made a first step in the right direction. The raft of measures includes a HK$2,200 monthly allowance for an estimated 400,000 elderly who qualify for the scheme, HK$350 million to double the HK$500 medical vouchers due to about 700,000 eligible residents, and HK$1 billion to help NGOs build the first batch of a planned 3,000 youth hostel units.

Leung is doing exactly what he said during his election campaign that he would do. So it's mystifying that critics call the measures 'sweeteners' designed to distract the public from the scandals and embarrassments in which he and his administration have been embroiled. 'Sweeteners' are one-off giveaways. The payout measures Leung is introducing are permanent and will be recurring expenditure. They may still be insufficient, but they can be improved if Leung is committed.