Public Eye

Bureaucrats eat another slice of heritage

Public Eye would like to tell you a dirty little secret. You've been duped by our overpaid bureaucrats. Well OK, that's not really a secret. They do it all the time. Our bureaucrats think governing the people means duping them. But we're talking about one particular dirty little secret. Our bureaucrats say the public wants them to replace the historic Kowloon Star Ferry bus terminus with a pseudo-piazza. That's actually a lie. It's the government's Tourism Commission that wants to destroy history, not the people.

Our inquiries show it's the commission that's been colluding with the tourism trade to obliterate the landmark. This is the same commission that wrecked the nearby historic Marine Police headquarters. It sold the heritage site to the highest bidder, who is turning it into a pricey boutique hotel. We're quite sure your ageing aunt who lives in a Tin Shui Wai public housing estate won't be going there to soak in Hong Kong's heritage.

Public Eye's inquiries show the commission's plan to pulverise the bus terminus was quietly inserted into a 2004 public consultation for the whole of Tsim Sha Tsui. All those who responded to the Tsim Sha Tsui overhaul opposed demolishing the terminus. But the government wouldn't budge. Its report made repeated reference to the commission 'championing' replacing the terminus with a piazza. Opponents were told the commission had done its own consultation. Who did they consult? Were you consulted? We certainly weren't. And so the bureaucrats will have their way again. They know what's best for us. And what's best for us is killing yet another slice of Hong Kong's history.

It's freedom, French style

When is wearing a burqa repulsive? When Muslim women are forced to wear them. When is a burqa not repulsive? When women, Muslim or not, freely choose to wear the hideously medieval garment that hides them from head to toe. The buzzwords here are 'free' and 'choice'.