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Letters

There were very many people before 1997 who predicted the same as Mr Lee Faulkner (“Hong Kong has only a past, no future”, January 22).
Indeed, very many left Hong Kong for the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia at the time.
Luckily things back home didn’t follow their predictions – quite the opposite, in fact, and a fair number of those who had fled did come back.
The grass was not that green on the other side, after all.


The good thing about Hong Kong is: if some talents leave for “better places”, we have a reserve of talented people coming to the city from up north! Fresh, energetic, willing to take on challenges, just like the older generation who arrived in Hong Kong a few decades ago.
When it comes to being “answerable to the people”, as Mr Faulkner puts it, one easily forgets that elected American leaders are answerable only to roughly 50 per cent of the people. The other 50 per cent are left in the cold!
And even the wishes of the first 50 per cent are valid for four years only, barring re-election.
After that, “democracy in action” comes up with executive orders; this is what, in countries we don’t like so much, we call dictatorship.
Roland Guettler, Lai Chi Kok


Don’t let geopolitical rivalry skew debate over Jimmy Lai’s sentencing

Hong Kong authorities seek forfeiture order for properties tied to Jimmy Lai’s crimes

Let’s be clear: national security law update is not a power grab

Beijing summons US envoy in Hong Kong over alert on national security law changes

Hong Kong national security law (NSL)

With Hong Kong, talent has always flowed both ways

Passengers wear protective face masks as they arrive from Shenzhen at Hong Kong’s Lo Wu MTR station, hours before the closing of the border crossing on February 3, 2020, amid an outbreak of the coronavirus disease in the mainland. Photo: AFP

Don’t punish Hong Kong BN(O) kids for their parents’ decision

A Cathay Pacific plane comes in to land at Heathrow airport in London. Photo: Getty Images

Are pan-democrats ‘calling the top’ of Hong Kong property market?

The Hong Kong skyline viewed from the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade. A number of well-known pan-democrats and anti-government activists have sold homes in recent months. Photo: Winson Wong

Former lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting from the Democratic Party arrives Eastern Magistrates' Courts. He is charged for allegedly revealing the identity of a person under investigation. 28DEC20 SCMP / Dickson Lee

Labour rights activist Lee Cheuk-yan arrives at the Eastern Court over charges of violating group gathering ban during a Labour Day protest last year. 13JAN21 SCMP / Nora Tam

People watch the sunset from the Ocean Terminal, Harbour City, Tsim Sha Tsui. 15JAN21 SCMP / Sun Yeung

Chairman of the Civic Party Alan Leong Kah-kit meets the press at the Legislative Council Complex, Tamar, on Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office's accusation. Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office has sparked a storm by accusing the pan-democracy lawmakers of delaying the election of a new chairman for the House Committee and creating backlog of legislation. 25MAR20 SCMP / Xiaomei Chen

National security law: Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam accuses the West of hypocrisy, defends mass opposition arrests

Chief Executive Carrie Lam hit back at Western critics and defended recent opposition arrests at a press conference on Tuesday. Photo: Nora Tam

Benny Tai Yiu-ting, pro-democracy activist, is released from Ma On Shan Police Station. 07JAN20 Photo: SCMP/ K. Y. Cheng

Pro-Trump protesters storm into the U.S. Capitol during clashes with police, during a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by the U.S. Congress, in Washington, U.S, January 6, 2021. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Opinion

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