Transport subsidy plan looks like another vote-getting gimmick

'In a U-turn, Financial Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen announced in a Commission on Poverty meeting yesterday that the government would provide a HK$600 monthly transport subsidy to low-income earners who had to commute to work from four outlying districts.'

SCMP, January 24

YES, WE HAVE indeed given up on positive non-interventionism. We are now closer to interventionist non-positivism. This latest silly idea from our civil servants may be positive for their careers but will not do anyone else much good.

To start with, the subsidy scheme is meant to last for only six months, after which it will be reviewed. You are perhaps given the impression from this that it will be reviewed in terms of whether it should be continued or dropped after six months.

Hah! When have our civil servants ever recommended dropping a juicy scheme to make work for themselves? Could someone please cite an arrangement of this sort that has ever been axed? I'm all ears.

In this case, it is highly unlikely to be axed anyway as it was adopted in response to political pressure. In six months' time that same political pressure will say it was an outstanding success and must be retained. The bureaucrats will then nod their heads. We have something as permanent here as Lantau Peak.