The View | Spend money where it’s needed to get Hong Kong back on its feet
- Non-protesters getting roughed up while the police failed to act is the biggest blow to confidence in Hong Kong in decades. Heads should roll, the extradition bill must be withdrawn and reserves spent on worthwhile services
The protests have been broadcast, dissected and exaggerated by ill-prepared “experts” globally. Again this week, a Singapore banker asked me if I knew any Hong Kong clients who wanted to “diversify”. The events are a chilling symptom of the lack of judgment at the top and opens up questions about power and influence in the grass roots of society. Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is reaping the whirlwind of decades of public frustration. Businesspeople ask, “What is next?”
The man on the street is disconsolate and depressed about the future and this is leading to weak sales and closed retailers. The property market is suddenly stagnant. Construction is grinding to a standstill as the big projects of the West Kowloon Station, Central-Wan Chai bypass, and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge come to completion.
However, the government can do a lot to recover from this self-induced recession. Whether it does or not is another matter, but if I were chief executive I would look at the low-hanging fruit.