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Michael Chugani

Colonialism lives on in officials' flats on The Peak
Public Eye had thought the colonial days of old, when even mid-ranking government officials qualified for homes on The Peak, were long gone. We thank the burglars who ransacked a Peak home last week for making us aware of how wrong we were.
We have no problem with the chief executive living at Government House in Central. Most presidents, prime ministers and governors have official residences.
Our chief secretary lives in Victoria House, a mansion on The Peak. The financial secretary, too, has an official residence - a mansion in Shouson Hill.
It is about time such bureaucrats are stripped of their pricey official residences, but we shall tolerate it.
What Public Eye cannot tolerate is Peak homes for even mid-level bureaucrats. The flat that was burgled is on Barker Road, next door to the chief secretary's mansion. Cecilia Law Lai-kwan lives there. Who? Good question. She is the Education Bureau's deputy projects director.
How come a middle-ranking bureaucrat can live in government quarters on Barker Road, The Peak's priciest address, where a house sold for HK$740 million last year? A good question but to which we have no answer.
Most Hongkongers have been priced out of the housing market. Flats barely bigger than a prison cell sell for HK$2 million. It takes 14 years of saving, without spending a cent on food and housing, to afford a 400 sq ft flat. Thousands of families live in subdivided flats.
Yet we still have the colonial-era practice of government quarters on The Peak. As a deputy director, Law no doubt also has a chauffeur-driven car. No Barker Road resident would be caught dead taking a bus. And our officials cannot understand why students are willing to boycott classes and ordinary Hongkongers are willing to risk arrest by joining civil disobedience protests.
Time for pan-democrats to take on the right fights
After years of fighting for democracy, where did it get the pan-democrats? Nowhere. What have they got to show for it? Nothing.
Beijing has now given them a choice between no democracy and what they call fake democracy. They were an army of dreamers who won a dose of reality. But the reality has not sunk in. The dream army wants to dream on.
They will occupy Central. They will vote down the central government's limited political reforms. The army's young foot soldiers will even boycott classes. They will do all this in the delusional belief that Beijing will fly the white flag.
The realists among us know it will not happen. But voting down the reforms may actually not be such a bad move if the democrats play their cards right. It will give them five years to fight the right battles.
They have squandered enough ammunition on silly fights over television licences and the sacking of a radio host. More than a million Hongkongers live below the poverty line. Wages are stagnant. Homes are unaffordable. The tide of mainland visitors has sunk our quality of life and priced small shop owners out of the rental market.
Put democracy aside and fight these battles. They will win hearts and minds, and the majority of Hongkongers' support. Only then will the pan-democrats have true leverage against the central government.
Michael Chugani is a columnist and television show host. mickchug@gmail.com
 


Colonialism lives on in officials' flats on The Peak

A house on Barker Road last year sold for HK$740 million.

News

Hong Kong

Opinion

Public Eye had thought the colonial days of old, when even mid-ranking government officials qualified for homes on The Peak, were long gone.


Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column

Public Eye

.css-1m2rp1p{color:#34b8b5;}Public Eye | Colonialism lives on in officials' flats on The Peak

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Public Eye had thought the colonial days of old, when even mid-ranking government officials qualified for homes on The Peak, were long gone.

Public Eye | Colonialism lives on in officials' flats on The Peak

Public Eye had thought the colonial days of old, when even mid-ranking government officials qualified for homes on The Peak, were long gone.