We are now entering the final act of Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen's term of office. His policy address in October will probably be his last chance to institute some sort of positive change to help the community face the challenges and uncertainty ahead.
He has highlighted three pressing social problems he would like to address: housing, the ageing population and the widening wealth gap. As part of the public consultation process, he has published a lengthy list of initiatives and spending increases in these areas on the policy speech website. He also essentially asks the community: 'What more do you want done?'
Band-aid measures, like another pilot programme or another extra month of 'fruit money' for our elderly, will not do. We need to look at unresolved problems that are crying out for serious answers, like the long waiting list for all sorts of elderly care services, and the continuing increase of youth unemployment and children living in poverty.
Take the issue of the ageing society. The core concerns for an ageing individual are livelihood security and the ability to find affordable and adequate health and care services. Can the government do something more on retirement protection? Shouldn't it?
The government could start by relaxing the restrictions on the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance for the elderly. Allow the elderly poor to apply for means-tested social security as an individual in need, rather than require the whole family to take social assistance, or the children to abandon responsibility for taking care of their elderly parent with the so-called 'bad son letter'.
Officials could review and find ways to address the inadequacy of the Mandatory Provident Fund, like giving incentives for wage-earners to set up contributory accounts for their non-working spouses. We could also explore the feasibility of raising the level of contributions to increase protection after retirement, and lowering the administration costs.
For a long-term solution to ensuring security in old age for an ageing society, this is surely the time for the government to initiate scientific data collection and engage a wide range of stakeholders to define the problems and potential options for some form of universal retirement protection. This would be a major step in preventing the increase of poverty and the widening of the wealth gap as the population ages.