Bernard Chan just doesn't get it. Of course he wouldn't. He lives in a cloistered world far removed from the thinking of ordinary Hongkongers. As an executive councillor, he advises the chief executive on important policies. But what he wrote in this newspaper last week showed how clueless top advisers like him are regarding the way Hongkongers think. He slammed the people for suspecting collusion when the government gave New World Development exclusive rights to upgrade the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront promenade without a public tender or proper consultation. New World is no doubt best suited for the upgrade, given its long association with the promenade, but can Chan blame people for being suspicious when they feel the government has allowed a handful of tycoons to control virtually every aspect of their lives? The fact that Chan can't comprehend the suspicion explains why there is now such a big divide between those who govern and the governed. He asks why everyone is making such a big deal about
the Avenue of Stars upgrade when no one cared about the government allowing Swire Properties to enhance Wan Chai's Star Street with street lights and greening. Is he for real? When policy advisers equate lamps on a back street with a major overhaul that would shut down Hong Kong's prime harbourfront for three years, we're in trouble. Chan mocks the people for suspecting collusion and wonders why they haven't focused instead on valid issues, such as an enhanced harbourfront attracting an even bigger flood of mainlanders. He's right about a swelling crowd. A revamped promenade with added attractions and easy access to new hotels and shopping malls would turn our harbourfront into another Mong Kok. But why ask the people to make an issue of it when he, as an Exco member, is far better able to do so? He knows that if the people protested, they would be accused of fuelling anti-mainland sentiment. As a policy adviser, he is totally clueless about public perception.
Baffling - that is the only way to describe the mainland media's bashing of tycoon Li Ka-shing. Public Eye won't even try to guess the reason behind the bizarre attack. Sometimes, it's best to scratch your head from the sidelines when you are not privy to what is going on inside the highest corridors of power. But Li, once admired as a "Superman" for rising from a humble maker of plastic flowers to the giddy heights of a tycoon who heads a global empire, must be feeling abandoned and unloved. Many Hongkongers who used to worship him now accuse him of property hegemony. Some mainland state media have gone further, accusing him of cutting and running from a weakening Chinese economy where past privileges had allowed him to make billions. So who will Hongkongers side with - a local tycoon many now mock or the Chinese communists many despise?
