Why does stubborn Hong Kong refuse to change its ways?
Bernard Chan says it will take a crisis before Hongkongers finally accept the need for change, whether it's on road pricing, health care or waste charging, to name but a few areas
A recent local television documentary mentioned Hong Kong's public consultation exercise on road pricing. If you're scratching your head, trying to remember when that happened, it's not surprising: it was in the early 1980s.
The proposal proved controversial. There was no consensus, so nothing happened. More than 30 years later, we have annual vehicle licences and the first registration tax, which are not limiting vehicle numbers. The traffic gets slower, and one incident in a crowded urban area can create gridlock.
The picture is similar with health care reform. We have had the 1985 Scott Report, the 1999 Harvard Report and several other proposals for reforms in health care structure and financing. As with road pricing, nothing happened, and we are stuck with a system that is gradually getting more overstretched.
It must also be true that a city with seven million smart, educated people can find solutions to these problems - as other cities in Asia have
It has become an established pattern in Hong Kong. The community identifies a problem, considers various solutions, and then fails to take action. The usual excuse is that there is no consensus. But there can never be a total consensus.
Many people blame our political structure - and with good reason. The administration lacks a popular mandate and a reliable support base in the Legislative Council.
Many would say vested interests have too much influence. Certainly, all sorts of groups - and not just business sectors - defend their rights or privileges fiercely. This can lead to a sense of entitlement, which encourages other groups to do the same, only with louder voices.
In my experience, there is a deep reluctance to accept a need for change.
I can think of two examples, which I have personally been involved in.