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It would appear that the chief executive has given up finding a solution to improving retirement protection for the ageing population of Hong Kong. Society is too divided and it will be difficult, if not impossible, to forge a consensus on the subject.

It is understandable that leaders, given the current politicised environment and the government's previous failed attempts to expand the tax base or reform health care finance, are reluctant to take the initiative.

But is there really no common ground on which we can pursue a solution?

Hong Kong people are blessed with increasing longevity. The average projected life expectancy of a person after the age of 60 is another 23 years for a man and 28 more years for a woman. However, the lack of adequate retirement protection will prevent many from enjoying a good and secure life in old age. Without a stable source of income to pay for daily living expenses, a roof over your head, and doctors' bills when you get sick, long life might instead be filled with anxiety, fear and uncertainty.

The growing number of elderly people living in poverty is a serious concern. We feel bad seeing elderly scavengers, their backs bent, searching for cardboard boxes and empty cans to sell for a living in an affluent city such as ours.

Currently, about 19 per cent, or some 170,000, of Hongkongers aged 65 or above live on public assistance, the means-tested Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA). In 2009, this cost over HK$8 billion, accounting for 3 per cent of total government expenditure.

Yet, there are another 120,000 people in old age (about 13 per cent of our elderly population) who also live below the poverty line - in poor households with less than half of the medium household income. These elderly poor are kept out of CSSA because of the perceived shame attached to being a recipient and the requirement that the household is means-tested as a whole. Many poor families struggle to maintain the meagre livelihood of their elderly parents, because they do not want to sign them off for public assistance with a so-called 'bad son letter'.

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