Opinion | Paul Chan’s budget must dish up a better future for Hong Kong

Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po has been treading carefully when it comes to the budget. He has, in the past, done well in managing expectations. Continuing the theme of him cooking up dishes for the people, Chan has recently been working the media circuit to dismiss the idea of further government handouts.

Hong Kong had such a fat public purse, with overflowing reserves for so many years, that it was and remains an envy for many. But the city has taken quite a hit from the man-made disaster of the 2019 social unrest, followed by the Covid-19 pandemic that has disrupted every aspect of life. In these leaner times, it would indeed be unwise to continue writing out cheques to the people.

Such cheques are often called “relief money” but, surely, we can throw these financial lifelines more accurately, towards the most vulnerable. The handouts last year are better described as political penance, whether you want to see it as the government “paying” for its indisputable role in triggering the violence on our streets in 2019, or for its failure to secure enough masks and personal protective equipment at the onset of the pandemic.

Even in Macau, where cash handouts have practically become entitlements, its government has set eligibility criteria, such as salary caps and employment status. Our financial secretary is right to warn us against hoping for more handouts. Public resources need to be better spent, especially in a crisis.

And that is where the biggest challenge lies. Whatever Chan is cooking up to resuscitate our economy, it had better be good – because the public can no longer stomach more mistakes, such as expensive amusement park bailouts or employment subsidies for supermarkets that turn out to be thriving. As Hong Kong faces its biggest disruption in decades, how will we seize our opportunities and what bold changes will we make?