Tang Wing-luen, 41, says Hong Kong has been living in the shadow of Sars for more than two months and it is time for Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa to take the helm and lead Hong Kong out of the current health disaster. Ride from Sai Kung to Hang Hau cost: $101.8 I don't know much about politics, and I certainly don't care much about who's running the show and how the government functions. But what I know is the government is supposed to be the manager of this place. At the moment, I don't think our managers are doing a good job. How do I know? As in the case of a private company, if the managers are failing in their duties, the company will be losing money and it would be unable to balance its books - as in the case of Hong Kong at present. People are not making a proper living, not to mention a comfortable one, and there are many problems - the deficit, high unemployment rate, and now this uncontrollable outbreak. Hong Kong seems to have fallen into a host of disasters and the economy is still in freefall. It seems like we are drifting in a boat that has no one at the helm, or maybe the vessel is being captained by someone who has no sense of direction. When I first started in the taxi trade 11 years ago, I could easily make more than $1,000 per shift, but now, like many other cabbies, I sometimes have to work over 12 hours - and even then, I can't even make half of what I made back then. I know we can't put all the blame on the government because they could not turn the global economic crisis around single-handedly. But at least, they could do something to lessen the pain. However, this administration keeps bungling up, tripping over obstacles all the time instead of overcoming them. And, in the end, the people of Hong Kong have to bear the consequences. What's the point of having a government which doesn't lead and senior officials who can't make the right decisions? I thought we were Asia's World City. We used to boast about all the good qualities of Hong Kong, I don't believe this outbreak has wiped away all the good points of this place in just a couple of months. We still have them, don't we? And we still have a relatively healthy economic structure despite the deficit and all that. We still have a well-structured government system. If we look at it from an operational point of view, we do have a superb machine, we just need the right people to run it properly. A few weeks ago, I finally got a chance to watch this Hollywood movie, Outbreak, which was a very inspiring experience. I am talking here about the state of alertness and decisiveness displayed by the US government in dealing with dangerous health issues in the outbreak. Maybe I should send a copy of the film to our government. We all know what we want from this government and what makes us happy. I just hope they can take some time to listen to our problems, concerns and needs. There is a communication gap between people down here and people up there. Maybe we just have to keep shouting, or shout louder from now on.
