Opinion | Can you be evicted from your flat for late-night cooking? In Hong Kong, the answer could be yes
- Albert Cheng says the Housing Authority is abusing its penalty points system by imposing for a time a restriction on making cooking noises in a public estate
- In a separate case, it even evicted an elderly dementia patient from her flat
Governance in Hong Kong has deteriorated so much since the handover, it is now hilariously bad. Recently, reports surfaced that the Housing Authority had imposed a restriction on late-night cooking in Wo Lok Estate, a public housing estate in Kwun Tong. For a few months, residents were instructed to refrain from cooking and “making meat-chopping, vegetable-cutting, stir-frying and chiselling noises” between 11pm and 7am every day, so not as to disturb neighbours. One notice, which was circulated on the internet, stated that offenders would be prosecuted or given demerit points.
It had also overlooked the needs of grass-roots residents. Many of them work till late in the night, before they can rest and eat. To them, a restriction on late-night cooking would be outrageous, even heartless.
This incident is symptomatic of the rot at the heart of the Hong Kong government. Bureaucracy is crippling each administrative bureau or department. Officials have this “do nothing, don’t make mistakes” mentality. Irresponsible and negligent, they take complaints at face value without investigating matters thoroughly.