Sorry, legislators, you can't have your Link cake and eat it, too

'Legislators have voted to summon two bosses of the Link Management after the company declined to send representatives to discuss how it manages shops and car parks in public housing estates.'

SCMP, May 10

WHAT IS IT about our elected legislators that they are allowed to take their seats only after a doctor has injected a big dose of Novacaine in their skulls?

Listen, fellas, you sold these properties, bundled them up lock, stock and barrel as a real estate investment trust and flogged the works off to private investors. They are no longer government-owned.

Unless you have good reason to think that the new managers broke the law, you have no more right to command their presence for an explanation of their leasing policies than you would if it were Sun Hung Kai Properties and you wanted to know why the Kwok brothers charge what they do for the 40th floor of Central Plaza.

It was your choice. You had the properties but you wanted the money. Thus you sold the properties and you took the money. It's a done deal. If it bothers you now that the new management wants to improve returns to investors by raising rents and getting rid of unnecessary staff, well, you should have thought about that before you sold. It's too late now.