This is HK, not North Korea
Why the silence? Aren't our leaders supposed to defend our rights? And isn't it our right to take pictures in a public place? So why haven't our leaders stood up to make this absolutely clear? We now have professional photographers saying Dolce & Gabbana's attempt to allow only mainlanders to take pictures of its storefront was just the tip of the iceberg. They say other fashion houses also use security thugs to block Hongkongers from taking pictures. We are told even the government blocks picture-taking outside some of its buildings. This is Hong Kong, not North Korea. Public Eye is still waiting for someone, anyone, in government to shout out loud that picture-taking in public is a basic Hong Kong right. What's stopping them? Fear of offending the big fashion houses and the rich mainlanders who shop in them? As for Dolce & Gabbana, the sooner it apologises, the better.
Why no rage over newborns?
More silence - this time from our political parties. Remember how most of them ranted over foreign domestic helpers getting permanent residency in Hong Kong? Their diatribe bordered on racism. We now have about 35,000 babies born here every year to mainland parents. They all qualify for permanent residency. Multiply 35,000 a year by several years and the number will exceed all the foreign maids here. A few hundred locals protested on Sunday against mainland babies straining our social services. But where's the diatribe from the political parties who raged against foreign maids? A case of different standards for a different complexion?
It's the babies, not the beds
Do they even know what the problem is? The problem is not that we don't have enough hospital beds. The problem is that we have too many babies. There is a difference. Hospital Authority boss Dr Leung Pak-yin says public hospitals are thinking of reducing the quota for mainland women who want to have babies here. And those who burst into emergency rooms at the last minute to give birth may be charged far more. Legislator Lee Cheuk-yan suggests, instead, that taxpayers pay private hospitals to increase the number of beds. Cutting the public hospital quota will drive even more pregnant mainlanders to private hospitals. The public should then finance the overload? Preposterous. And how are doctors supposed to make pregnant mainlanders pay more for gate-crashing emergency rooms? Demand money upfront or no delivery? Jail mother and child after delivery if they don't pay? It's the babies, stupid, not the beds. Too many mainland babies with Hong Kong residency will crash the social services system. That's what Hongkongers are angry about, not the number of hospital beds.