I refer to the letter from C.K. Chan of PCCW (“Hong Kong’s piracy raids ahead of Fifa World Cup protect city’s reputation for rule of law”, June 5).
Mr Chan has tried to sound extremely magnanimous in claiming that ViuTV is broadcasting 19 matches free of charge. However, he is part of an organisation that faces consumer complaints over vague contract terms, and over faulty equipment and overcharging.
Attempts to rectify problems with PCCW involve negotiating their infamous customer service maze, like confused laboratory rats in an experiment with no end.
While government bodies like the Communications Authority have few or no answers or any redress towards issues like the above, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department “enforces” laws by clamping down on poor cardboard sellers and cleaners. Indeed, excellent examples of the rule of law being upheld!
The disproportionate power held by the functional constituencies in the Legislative Council has long been a bone of contention and has enabled the concentration of power among the business elite, who seek to protect vested interests instead of promoting healthy competition. Employers are clearly over-represented in the current political system and labour associations tend to lean more towards political interests rather than social ones.
While commoners in Hong Kong face a housing crisis because of an acute land shortage, the powerful Heung Yee Kuk can make unreasonable demands of the government, which seems only too happy to oblige.
The 10 wealthiest people in Hong Kong reportedly own about 48 per cent of the city’s economy. They continue to amass wealth in this low-tax system, a relatively free economy sheltered from competition.
Hong Kong is an oligarchy and laws are enforced to protect the rich. Right from customs raids just before a major event, to taxi licences, land premiums, exclusive clubs using land resources for a pittance and laws that support the Mandatory Provident Fund offset mechanism, capitalist Hong Kong has found its own ways and means of supporting the rich at the cost of the not-so-rich.
Gauri Venkitaraman, Lam Tin