Tsang's cosy ties with business are plain for all to see

Donald Tsang Yam-kuen's failure to impose a minimum wage comes as no surprise to me, though, judging by the outcry, it clearly does to many naive Hongkongers. They should ask themselves: why would any career politician deliberately estrange the people who effectively elect him via their influence on the voting committee?

It is plain to see that the government has a very cosy relationship with the big developers and corporations. Sadly, big money translates into big influence, and ordinary people will never get a fair deal while this government is in power. This will only change with a democratically elected government - but if you think Beijing will allow that you are just as naive as the rest of them.

Mr Tsang's suggestion of a voluntary minimum wage is as wishy-washy as the rest of his policy, and an insult to the majority of workers. They would be better advised to put their hopes in the Federation of Trade Unions, whose planned court challenge after Mr Tsang's refusal to invoke the 60-year-old Trade Boards Ordinance offers their most realistic hope of satisfaction.

Don't you find it ironic that we are part of the world's biggest communist country, whose priority is to eliminate exploitation of the people, yet the powers that be fail to impose a minimum wage? It makes me wonder whether Hong Kong's status as a special administrative region is also a licence for the rich to get richer at the expense of everyone else.

WILLIAM HUNG, Hong Lok Yuen

Too late for vouchers