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LettersHow long will Hong Kong follow ‘one city, two systems’ with small-house policy?
- The policy under which the Hong Kong government has granted indigenous villagers land to build houses for decades makes urban Hongkongers wonder about equality
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With reference to Alex Lo’s column, “Come on kuk, appeal against that ruling” (April 9), I would like to quote that famous line from George Orwell’s Animal Farm: “All animals are created equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
The question that most Hongkongers have been asking is: “Why are these villagers more equal than the rest of us?”
The High Court judgment of April 8 was most favourable to indigenous villagers with private land. I am surprised that the government is considering whether to appeal. This is clearly a fight between urban and rural Hongkongers and the government should not take sides, otherwise it would give the impression that collusion might be the hidden agenda – especially when legislators have questioned why 900 hectares were dedicated to ding applications that could have been used for building government-subsidised housing, or improving facilities and the environment in rural areas.
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Mr Lo failed to mention the problem of illegal sale of land acquired under “ding” rights – male indigenous villagers’ right to build three-storey homes in the New Territories – to small house developers. This has been an open secret for ages, gone on so long that I thought it was legal. It is also a surprise that only one or two prosecutions have taken place.
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Mr Lo should have advised the Heung Yee Kuk to concentrate on the granting of the right to build houses on private land which started in 1906. Villagers in the New Territories were entitled to build houses on their land without having to seek approval, as stated by Justice Anderson Chow Ka-ming. Let’s hope that we Hongkongers are all equal and continue to have “one country, two systems” – instead of separate systems within the “two systems” for those who are more equal than others.
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