HONG KONG is a heartless place where the rich live luxuriously, the poor struggle and the disabled are ignored. Witness the sad tale of a paralysed man robbed of the life savings he had put aside to pay for an electric wheelchair.
But harshness is only part of the truth of Hong Kong. As Law Ka-man found out when his story appeared in the South China Morning Post and elsewhere, the urge to give is stronger here than in societies which routinely rely on welfare.
So strong, indeed, that Director of Welfare Ian Strachan may have been hasty in paying out of public funds the charity Mr Law was suddenly offered by private donors. After all, if Mr Law deserved help from the Government now, he deserved it before he hit the headlines. And so does every other poor, disabled person forced to scrimp and save to make life a little easier.
Mr Strachan might have waited a little. If Hong Kong had proved stoney-hearted, he could still have stumped up the $30,000 without fanfare. Then Mr Law would have known the department wanted to help - and had no other motive.
