Lawmaker's alternative policy address calls for more input from the public
Legislator Alan Leong Kah-kit yesterday issued a damning report on the Tung administration, arguing that the collapsed listing of the Link real estate investment trust and other instances of bad governance were fuelling social conflict.
In an alternative policy report, he called for fundamental changes in land policy and governance to allow greater public participation. The lawmaker from the Article 45 Concern Group warned of more crises if officials continued to shun people's views in policy-making.
Mr Leong's report - his first alternative policy address and work report - came as politicians and academics speculated on what the year might hold. Some expressed concern about the lack of new economic drives, while others said the community should start debating the qualities they wanted in the next chief executive.
Delivering his 54-page report, 'A Fresh Start for Hong Kong', Mr Leong criticised the government for failing to learn from repeated mistakes. 'The government has been widely perceived as arrogant, practising cronyism and giving little regard to public views,' he told a press conference.
'If the government continues to neglect the poor and violate the principles of compassion and justice, social conflicts and governance crises are unavoidable.'
Citing land-use controversies involving the Cyberport, Hunghom Peninsula and Discovery Bay, the barrister estimated that they had cost the public purse more than $9 billion - enough, he said, to offset cuts in welfare payments for the elderly for 25 years.
