I HAVE lived all my life in Hong Kong and felt proud to be a citizen of Hong Kong.
Over the years, I have never ceased to marvel at the tolerance of our people, their willingness to work hard and their ability to overcome crises.
Recently, sad to say, the temporary closure of the Tuen Mun Highway changed my mind about this, because it showed that Hong Kong people have changed.
A good proportion of the people of Hong Kong have revealed themselves to be selfish and very demanding. They seem to want everything, but do not wish to suffer any inconvenience or co-operate with each other. Instead of looking at the closure of the Tuen Mun Highway as a whole, or the true reason for the closure, they were only concerned with how it affected or inconvenienced them. They were totally indifferent to the numerous people who work day and night, some into the early morning, not to mention the non-stop schedule during the day, in order to make the roads safe for them.
The few hours they spent in the traffic jam the first couple of days of the closure were really quite insignificant compared to what these government workers were doing. But instead of receiving understanding or appreciation from the Hong Kong public, these people were scolded and blamed for the problems. Things were made worse by the news media which distorted or exaggerated the problems in order to sell their papers, and by a small group of people who seized this as an opportunity to get more public exposure. This havoc was caused by the bad weather. As the South China Morning Post reported, on September 5, it was the highest total rainfall for August since records began in 1884.
A tourist friend of mine, who happened to be visiting Hong Kong at that time, watched the television news and read the newspapers and said to me afterwards, 'Hong Kong people are really demanding and hard to please.' It was her comment which prompted me to write to these columns for the first time in my life. I would really like to tip my hat to Mr James Blake, his colleagues and staff for the difficult work they are doing so well to ensure our roads are safe for us. They got no thanks and only a barrage of criticism. I am sure there are many people who share my feelings.