Eden Woon Yi-teng has never been one to pull punches and he is not about to change. Even as he prepares to return to his birthplace of Shanghai next month after steering the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce for nine often tumultuous years, he still has a few bones to pick here.
'I feel we are in pretty good economic shape for the next three years - five years if you want to be optimistic,' Dr Woon said. 'But there are a lot of structural issues here that need to be addressed and I think they are very difficult because they all require political manoeuvring.'
He is referring to battles over issues such as the electricity market's scheme of control, the West Kowloon site, civil service reform, broadening the tax base, competition policy, education reform and further constitutional development, which he is certain will 'come up after a year or two'. He said that, while Hong Kong was still in the enviable position of being the only international city in the world that could claim to have such a close relationship with the mainland, it suffered from an 'awkward' political system that played havoc with the ability of the government to promote the city's economic development over the long term.
'Hong Kong, from a macro level, has lots of advantages,' he said. 'But it needs to deal with a demanding society and a changing world of globalisation where the role of the government is increasingly important to be competitive. Whether or not we can do this in the long run and help Hong Kong continue to be competitive after five years is the big question. That requires a lot of work by the government.
'My personal view is that the political system here makes it very difficult. It's an awkward political system. I don't buy the solution that the magic pill is direct elections and that, if you have direct elections tomorrow, everything will be solved. But on the other hand, I think keeping the status quo is no solution for the long-term competitiveness of Hong Kong.'
That was why the chamber was calling for a road map for constitutional reform to get the ball rolling and foster constructive public discussion on the way forward, Dr Woon said. He noted that it was not imperative to immediately set a deadline for direct elections in a road map, but that having a road map in hand would provide the foundation to study 'what is it that will make direct elections a good pill at some time'.