Hong Kong citizens keep asking for increases in sweetheart deals, including welfare, housing subsidies and limits on working hours while being unwilling to bear the financial burden that would be placed on the government. I find this utterly preposterous.
As a second-generation immigrant, I was brought up to embrace Hong Kong people's core spirit - the hard-working trait that has helped build the resource-scarce economy of Hong Kong and transform it from a fishing port to the vibrant city we now see.
Above all, I have always had respect for those self-made individuals, who went from rags to riches through their unfailing passion and perseverance.
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying is perhaps the best deal we've had for a while.
At least he has to be credited with injecting some much-needed good sense into debates, preventing the administration from accumulating the huge deficits that governments in Europe and in the US are having to confront.
Interest groups should stop blindly calling for an increase in benefits and be accountable for their own needs. On recent form, such a hope may be wishful thinking. However, such increases would compromise the long-term stability of our city.