Hong Kong's tram debate shines light on Central's worsening traffic congestion
Bernard Chan says wild conspiracy theories aside, there has been some thoughtful discussion on ways to tackle the real source of the problem in crowded Central - too many cars
A former civil servant involved in planning recently put forward a proposal to the Town Planning Board to scrap tram services through Central. I do not know the intentions of the individual who made the submission. But it sounds like something that could have disappeared without trace.
Instead, it attracted considerable attention in the press, and it went viral online.
Several things struck me about this.
First of all, there were conspiracy theories. One claimed that the government had arranged the proposal in order to distract attention from the problems over lead in water in certain housing estates and schools. Another suggested that developers were behind the idea. Both reflect the distrust and suspicion that exist in parts of the community.
More broadly, the proposal was seen as an attack on heritage. With the old Tung Tak pawn shop in Wan Chai in the news at the same time, it is not surprising that people were sensitive about this. The trams are icons of Hong Kong and, for many of us, part of our childhood memories. People have an emotional attachment to them that you would never find with, say, buses.