The red packets given out by our financial secretary in his budget speech this week brought a lot of smiles and applause from people from all walks of lives. Even the recipients of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance got a piece of the cake, with an extra one-month grant of about HK$1,400 for an adult and HK$1,600 for a child. It was a treat for everyone, but the question is: did riches really bring hope or a chance to improve and move ahead?
Henry Tang Ying-yen's announcement of a windfall budget surplus of
HK$55.1 billion is a happy surprise; it is also a sad irony when viewed against the growing poverty in Hong Kong, as shown in last week's by-census statistics. The government is getting rich, but there are more poor people and those at the bottom are earning much less than they did 10 years ago. The number of workers earning less than HK$6,000 a month has grown to more than 700,000. These facts tell us that not everyone is benefiting from our city's economic growth.
It is an important role of the government to redistribute and balance the gains, so that our society can be more inclusive. Mr Tang has rightly tried to make such a move, but Hong Kong needs more than a fair dividend of the riches earned. It needs investments and planning for the future, to build capacities and bring hope to the disadvantaged.
We ask three things of a rich government likely to get even richer over the next five years.
First, it must foster productivity and growth, especially for the disadvantaged. Surplus resources should be invested in building human capital to meet the changes brought about by an open and knowledge-based economy. We need comprehensive job assistance, development and training programmes to help our low-skilled and lesser-educated workforce. We'd like tax incentives to encourage employers to give work opportunities to the disabled and the inexperienced.
