Bauhinias for the boys, nothing for the critics

The Hong Kong government is lavish with the honours it dishes out each year; there were almost 300 Bauhinia awards this year. The overwhelming majority of recipients are on the government's own payroll or are time-servers on committees here and in Beijing. But, more recently, a clutch of awards has gone to those who contributed to the chief executive's election campaign.

Yet, in this plethora of awards, there is no space for anyone outside the golden circle of government supporters. This is how the Tsang and Tung administrations have demonstrated that, far from serving the people, they have chosen to focus on those closest to themselves.

These musings were prompted by the recent announcement of a Ramon Magsaysay Award to Chung To, the head and founder of the Chi Heng Foundation, which helps mainland children orphaned by Aids. Mr To, a Hongkonger, has not received recognition for his work from the Hong Kong government but is being recognised with the Magsaysay Award, often described as Asia's Nobel Prize.

It seems unlikely that Mr To was overlooked because of distaste for his work. But what he does is far from fashionable and does not find its way on to the 'A' list of charities frequented by the grand people who can expect to be on the official radar. On the contrary, the Chi Heng Foundation highlights a reality that Chinese officials, and therefore their poodles in Hong Kong, would prefer to ignore. This is that China faces a serious Aids problem.

If Mr To were looking for Hong Kong honours, which I am sure he is not, he would be far better deployed giving money to the chief executive's re-election campaign, to one of the 'safe' local charities such as the Community Chest or even to the local cancer fund, fighting a far less controversial disease - albeit in an entirely worthy cause.

This year, David Li Kwok-po, who headed Donald Tsang Yam-kuen's re-election campaign, was given the highest of the government awards, the Grand Bauhinia Medal. In past years, awards have been dished out to leading members of pro-government parties. There has only ever been one given to a pro-democracy politician - Frederick Fung Kin-kee, a so-called 'moderate' democrat who was granted the third-tier Silver Bauhinia Star (SBS) last year.