Letters | If Beijing can see the problem with Hong Kong, why can’t our government officials?

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Helping then chief-executive hopeful Carrie Lam launch her election manifesto are Ronald Arculli (left) and Bernard Chan, in Mong Kok in February 2017. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 7:10am, 30 Sep 2019Updated: 7:10am, 30 Sep 2019

I refer to the letter titled “Government to blame for crisis, not developers” (September 25). Your correspondent A.L. Nanik should not be surprised if Bernard Chan and Ronald Arculli do not find Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor at all responsible for the mess that Hong Kong is in, as they are her senior advisers and were key members of her election campaign team. Therefore, they also must bear some responsibility.

Chan and Arculli give the impression that they are just observers or bystanders. But they have been integrally involved with Hong Kong’s government policies for many years.

It is the past and present executive councillors and Legislative Council members from the functional constituencies who have long been promoting the laissez faire status quo that has benefited vested interests, especially the “FIRE” (finance, insurance and real estate) interests, as pointed out by your columnist Alex Lo (“The industries that have set Hong Kong on fire”, September 20).

It seems that mainland authorities are now beginning to see the real situation in Hong Kong more clearly than our local officials, elite advisers, and politicians.

In the past, “advisers” have attempted to pour cold water on the idea, saying that invoking the Lands Resumption Ordinance would take a long time, when, on the other hand, they support dumping Hong Kong’s money into the sea at East Lantau, which would take longer.