https://www.scmp.com/rss/11112/feed Markus Shaw is a businessman and life-long citizen of Hong Kong. He is very active in the areas of nature conservation and better urban design. Previously chair of WWF Hong Kong, he now chairs Walk DVRC, an NGO formed to promote pedestrianisation in Hong Kong, specifically on Des Voeux Road Central. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com The expression “Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong,” which is still referred to in official documents as one of the principles underpinning the Basic Law, has almost completely fallen out of usage. Concurrently, one often hears from sources that the central government just wishes Hong Kong would get on with solving its own problems. Really? Far from wanting Hong Kong to solve its own problems, let alone allowing Hong Kong people to rule Hong Kong, the central government seems to wish to... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/protests-returned-hong-kong-because-beijing-broke-its-promises/article/3025630?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/protests-returned-hong-kong-because-beijing-broke-its-promises/article/3025630?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Sep 2019 12:41:22 +0000 The expression “Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong”, which is still referred to in official documents as one of the principles underpinning the Basic Law, has almost completely fallen out of usage. Concurrently, one often hears from sources that the central government just wishes Hong Kong would get on with solving its own problems. Really? Far from wanting Hong Kong to solve its own problems, let alone allowing Hong Kong people to rule Hong Kong, the central government seems to wish to interfere... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3025385/china-broke-its-promises-hong-kong-thats-why-protest-movement-back?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3025385/china-broke-its-promises-hong-kong-thats-why-protest-movement-back?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Sep 2019 01:00:06 +0000 Government would do well to heed an ancient tenet of the medical profession: "First, do no harm." Last weekend, I stood by a construction site in one of Hong Kong's most picturesque rural areas, shaking my head in anger and dismay. A large pavilion is being built on a headland next to a stream which feeds into Leung Shuen Wan, a bay containing two villages, a famous temple, a fish farm and a couple of restaurants, which are popular with hikers and yachtsmen. Feral cows feed in the grassy... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1072537/government-must-stop-improving-our-countryside?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1072537/government-must-stop-improving-our-countryside?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 29 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 There have been encouraging signs recently that the government is finally getting serious about law enforcement in rural areas. It's about time. Since the handover, we are one Hong Kong; the old delineation between the Hong Kong south of Boundary Street and Hong Kong north of the street no longer holds. Nor is it tolerable that laws that apply in our metropolitan areas are not enforced in rural areas. But examples of the old mindset survive all over the New Territories. One is Hoi Ha village,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1020240/officials-failing-protect-hoi-ha-wan-marine-park?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1020240/officials-failing-protect-hoi-ha-wan-marine-park?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 Aug 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Since the handover 15 years ago, central authorities have worried about subversives - democrats who would undermine Hong Kong's economic success if their demands were ever met. Now we know that the subversion is coming from an entirely different quarter, and it is more serious than thought, as it threatens to undermine the very bedrock of our way of life: the rule of law. These subversives are a powerful bunch, because they are the insiders - they are the establishment. Today, the insidious... https://www.scmp.com/article/995204/hong-kongs-foundations-are-being-eroded-within?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/995204/hong-kongs-foundations-are-being-eroded-within?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 11 Mar 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Earlier this year, the Fringe Club hosted an exhibition titled 'Hong Kong: Beautiful City, Ugly Places'. It reinforced my long-held opinion that Hong Kong is an unattractive city in an attractive setting. Imagine for a moment that Hong Kong was entirely flat - no green hills, no harbour. Still a 'beautiful city'? How many truly beautiful buildings can you name in Hong Kong? How many truly picturesque neighbourhoods? Our civic pride is certainly not expressed in the quality of our buildings;... https://www.scmp.com/article/740942/monuments-ego-can-create-lasting-legacy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/740942/monuments-ego-can-create-lasting-legacy?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Mar 2011 16:00:00 +0000 At the recent joint business chambers luncheon, during which Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen expounded on some of the themes of his policy address, he rounded on activists opposed to plans for the government office buildings on Lower Albert Road and on the Central reclamation. These people, he said, expect that core urban sites should be set aside for the rearing of sheep and cattle! Allowing for a degree of exaggeration in the making of his point, the remark is a revealing one. Tsang... https://www.scmp.com/article/730805/big-isnt-always-best?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/730805/big-isnt-always-best?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 17 Nov 2010 16:00:00 +0000 Here's a direct question for the chief executive: 'Do you agree that air pollution is a serious public health issue?' If the answer is 'yes', then why has the Food and Health Bureau been silent on the issue? If the answer is 'no', then please explain why you think that over 6 million doctor visits a year for ailments related to air pollution does not constitute a public health crisis? Please explain why you disagree with the Hong Kong Paediatric Society, Hong Kong Geriatric Society, Hong... https://www.scmp.com/article/725363/hks-disconnect-health-and-air-policy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/725363/hks-disconnect-health-and-air-policy?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 Sep 2010 16:00:00 +0000 Hong Kong has its own version of 'one country, two systems'. Call it 'one city, two standards': one rule of law for metropolitan areas, another for rural areas. Put another way, rural sins are not treated the same way as metropolitan sins. This dichotomy has its roots in history. When the British acquired the New Territories in 1898 and set about to govern those areas, they had to tread carefully and recognise traditional customs. Today, village farms have virtually disappeared, and formerly... https://www.scmp.com/article/722348/rural-rights-have-move-times?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/722348/rural-rights-have-move-times?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Aug 2010 16:00:00 +0000 The single most critical conservation issue in Hong Kong today is the devastated condition of our marine environment. Hong Kong has its own Dead Sea but, in our case, it is entirely man made. This situation has come to pass principally because of overfishing, and the blame can be laid squarely at the door of Hong Kong's most ineffectual government department, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD). It is responsible for an industry that no longer exists (agriculture),... https://www.scmp.com/article/712067/marine-legacy-tsang?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/712067/marine-legacy-tsang?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 21 Apr 2010 16:00:00 +0000 Functional constituencies: what exactly is their intended function? Many are seen as 'rotten boroughs', the sinecures of privileged elites. They were never intended to give political clout to narrow vested interests, but that is what they have become in the eyes of many - impediments to the public will. Functional constituencies have become dysfunctional. But there is another side to them. Vested interests, by definition, are resistant to change, and are therefore champions of the status quo.... https://www.scmp.com/article/700691/twin-advantages-dual-chamber-system?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/700691/twin-advantages-dual-chamber-system?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:00:00 +0000 Hong Kong has wandered into several cul-de-sacs simultaneously. In so many areas we seem to have reached a point where we cannot make progress because of constitutional, institutional or intellectual sclerosis. The current debate over the revision of our air quality objectives is a case in point. The revised objectives will set new benchmarks and drive policy for cleaning up our polluted air, and the public has very quickly grasped the essentials: air pollution, as it affects the man in the... https://www.scmp.com/article/691998/missing-bus-and-just-about-everything-else?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/691998/missing-bus-and-just-about-everything-else?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:00:00 +0000 Hong Kong's political-economic philosophy is based on free markets, small government and low taxes. Some would argue that this has never been the case in practice, but we still cling to the fiction, which is a powerful one. These principles have been adhered to, at least in theory, and there is a strong case to be made that they are largely responsible for our economic success. The benefits of these principles have to be argued vigorously in each generation - especially in the current one, ... https://www.scmp.com/article/687117/business-must-win-case-market-ideas?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/687117/business-must-win-case-market-ideas?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:00:00 +0000 In my annual update on our ongoing fisheries crisis, I am depressed again to report a lack of concrete progress. It is now 11 years since a government report of 1998 described Hong Kong fisheries as being in a state of crisis, and recommended urgent action. The Committee for Sustainable Fisheries, set up in 2006, finally issued a draft report at the end of last year. Surprisingly, its proposals reflected the recommendations of the WWF conservation body: a licensing regime for fishing; and,... https://www.scmp.com/article/680864/clueless-how-regain-underwater-paradise-lost?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/680864/clueless-how-regain-underwater-paradise-lost?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 May 2009 16:00:00 +0000 In his recent budget speech, Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah first reiterated the government's commitment to the principle of 'market leads, government facilitates'. He then made the following statements: 'The government will... act as a more proactive market facilitator in economic development when necessary. It is necessary for Hong Kong to reposition itself in the national plan. The past practice of enterprises moving ahead of the government may not always suit the development trend.... https://www.scmp.com/article/676005/it-or-not-we-are-about-be-integrated?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/676005/it-or-not-we-are-about-be-integrated?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:00:00 +0000 The recent budget contains perhaps the worst five-year economic forecast in Hong Kong's history. Yet such is the prudence of Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah that he anticipates that, at the end of this unprecedented period, we will still have fiscal reserves of HK$391.1 billion, representing 19.9 per cent of gross domestic product and 14 months of government expenditure. Hong Kong citizens are entitled to ask: 'why bother generating surpluses at all, if they are not to be spent even in... https://www.scmp.com/article/673194/wrong-kind-economic-prudence?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/673194/wrong-kind-economic-prudence?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:00:00 +0000 The Liberal Party is dead. Long live the liberal party. The strategy of big business - to nurture the Liberals as the party of business interests in the era of democratic politics - lies shredded on the ballot booth floor. In the recent Legislative Council election, the Liberal Party lost in all its geographical constituency contests and ended up with seven functional constituency seats. Of these, only four were contested. Five of the seven are elected by corporate bodies rather than... https://www.scmp.com/article/652421/wanted-truly-modern-liberal-party?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/652421/wanted-truly-modern-liberal-party?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Sep 2008 16:00:00 +0000 Late last year, a section of the Upper Tai Po River was dammed by an illegal 25-metre-long road. Trees were felled and 258 square metres of surrounding land were excavated. Conservationists were aghast at the considerable damage done to this pristine and ecologically valuable environment. The road was built to provide access to an unapproved village housing project, and only came to the attention of the authorities through the vigilance of a member of the public. The case recently came to court,... https://www.scmp.com/article/642618/green-offenders-laugh-all-way-court?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/642618/green-offenders-laugh-all-way-court?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 22 Jun 2008 16:00:00 +0000 Hong Kong citizens have been badly conned over the Central Harbourfront. First we were told that there was an 'overriding public need' for a Central-Wan Chai bypass and the MTR Sha Tin-Central rail link. This necessitated reclamation work, which destroyed such well-loved landmarks as the Star Ferry and Queen's piers. Then we were told the bypass would go underground, which raised the question: why was the reclamation needed at all? Now we are told that neither the bypass nor the MTR's... https://www.scmp.com/article/637936/seize-chance-world-class-waterfront?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/637936/seize-chance-world-class-waterfront?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 16 May 2008 16:00:00 +0000 Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah's budget speech gives yet another insight into the mind of the administration and allows us to reflect on some interesting anomalies. Mr Tsang is at pains to stress fiscal discipline and the control of recurrent expenditure, especially in the context of the social welfare costs of an ageing population. He reiterates the administration's commitment to non-interventionist small government. These objectives would be laudable were they not so inconsistently... https://www.scmp.com/article/629439/officials-faustian-pact-infrastructure?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/629439/officials-faustian-pact-infrastructure?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Mar 2008 16:00:00 +0000 Hong Kong aspires to be a world-class, cosmopolitan city. The reality is that we are parochial and ruled by bureaucrats. In this regard, we have made little progress since the handover; in many respects, we have regressed. Most surprising of all, we are falling behind many of our mainland rivals in urban sophistication. It is this, rather than by any comparison of infrastructure or efficiency, that will erode our place in the world, as well as our self-confidence. Hong Kong is famous for its... https://www.scmp.com/article/624372/asias-parochial-make-do-world-city?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/624372/asias-parochial-make-do-world-city?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Jan 2008 16:00:00 +0000 The Planning Department recently issued 'Hong Kong 2030', its long-term planning vision and strategy. Every citizen should be aware of this important document, since its stated goal is 'a long-term planning strategy to guide future development and provision of strategic infrastructure, and to help implement government policy targets in a spatial form'. The report was a long time in the making, principally because fundamental assumptions such as population growth had to be revised. Much effort... https://www.scmp.com/article/621962/planners-myopia-distorts-long-term-vision-city?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/621962/planners-myopia-distorts-long-term-vision-city?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 06 Jan 2008 16:00:00 +0000 For the past few years, along with other environmentalists, I have been invited by the chief executive to discuss areas of concern prior to his policy address. Every year, I have told him that our marine environment and collapsing fisheries are the most pressing conservation issues in Hong Kong. As usual, marine conservation merited not a single mention in this year's policy address. The dire state of our marine environment is an easy problem to fix. It requires a little intelligence, some... https://www.scmp.com/article/619900/catch-day-fix-our-fisheries-crisis?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/619900/catch-day-fix-our-fisheries-crisis?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 16 Dec 2007 16:00:00 +0000 The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department is an anachronism. Agriculture hardly exists in Hong Kong any longer. Fisheries have collapsed for lack of any effective management by the department responsible for it. As for conservation, one is often left wondering why it continues to keep such strange bedfellows. The supposed champion of conservation in the government is a mere section within a department, sharing space and a budget with an activity that is effectively redundant... https://www.scmp.com/article/607446/where-conservation-exists-name-only?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/607446/where-conservation-exists-name-only?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Sep 2007 16:00:00 +0000 When I reflect on Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen's election slogan: 'I will get the job done', one half of me lives in hope, the other half in trepidation. This is, after all, the government which 'got the job done' on Central reclamation, Tamar and the demolition of the Star Ferry Pier. There are few things more frightening than a government determined to 'get the job done' using a defective blueprint. Mr Tsang's election declaration speech, from February, revealed an understanding... https://www.scmp.com/article/594966/real-blueprint-visionary-leader?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/594966/real-blueprint-visionary-leader?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 30 May 2007 16:00:00 +0000 As a fiscal conservative, I would normally applaud a decision to give an enormous budget surplus back to citizens, as our government proposed in its great pre-election giveaway. Financial Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen said he would 'give back' HK$20 billion of the HK$55 billion budget surplus. In this case, I hope that Mr Tang has not overdone his generosity, given some of the urgent environmental matters to be attended to, which will cost money. From 1997 to 2003, Hong Kong went through ... https://www.scmp.com/article/585969/now-we-can-afford-be-green?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/585969/now-we-can-afford-be-green?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 21 Mar 2007 16:00:00 +0000 How important are our unspoilt rural areas and marine environment? What extra cost and effort should we as a community make to preserve them? These are the questions at the heart of the debate over where to put CLP Power's liquefied natural gas terminal. The debate also highlights the inadequacies of our public consultation arrangements in a society where citizens are demanding a greater say on planning issues. CLP Power has stated that gas from the Yacheng field on Hainan Island will run out... https://www.scmp.com/article/578022/what-price-sokos?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/578022/what-price-sokos?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Jan 2007 16:00:00 +0000 In reviewing the government's performance in conservation and the environment over the past year, I will resist the temptation to make a list of successes and failures. The seriousness of some of the problems we are facing requires us to move beyond that. In the face of many pressing conservation and environmental issues, the government has responded with platitudes, complacency, ignorance or incomprehension, acceptance of second-rate solutions and inadequate or bad policy. That sounds harsh,... https://www.scmp.com/article/577198/why-were-urbanising-hong-kong-death?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/577198/why-were-urbanising-hong-kong-death?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 01 Jan 2007 16:00:00 +0000 When travelling abroad, I am often asked what changes have occurred in Hong Kong since the handover. In the early days, this was not an easy question to answer without putting my interlocutor to sleep. Recently, the answer has been simple: 'The greatest change has been the rise in the sense of citizenship.' Before the handover, we were colonial subjects. Many were fearful of the world after 1997, and it is difficult to develop a feeling of citizenship in a place of uncertain future. Most... https://www.scmp.com/article/575931/new-breed-citizen?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/575931/new-breed-citizen?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 18 Dec 2006 16:00:00 +0000 The ground breaking for the new Ocean Park took place last week amid typical Zemanesque razzmatazz. Allan Zeman understands entertainment: I have no doubt that, under his guidance as chairman, the new and improved Ocean Park will be a world-class facility and a successful tourist attraction. But I couldn't help being struck by ironies and contrasts, as I sat there amid the self-congratulations for a bright future - in the presence of Financial Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen and Selina Chow Liang... https://www.scmp.com/article/573556/whither-our-natural-wonders?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/573556/whither-our-natural-wonders?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 30 Nov 2006 16:00:00 +0000 Much attention has been devoted recently to the problem of idling vehicles and the government's decision to purchase fuel-guzzling limousines for senior officials. These issues are important from the point of view of perception and principle, but are somewhat marginal in the greater scheme of things. About 25 per cent of our air pollution is derived from vehicles, but for the man in the street (literally), roadside pollution has the most immediate effect on the air that he breathes. To tackle... https://www.scmp.com/article/572245/air-we-can-breathe?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/572245/air-we-can-breathe?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 Nov 2006 16:00:00 +0000 With just over 40 per cent of our land area designated as country park, Hong Kong is well served by countryside areas. Yet, many very beautiful countryside and rural areas outside country parks are not given protection, and pressure to develop them is intense. With our stable population and declining hunger for land, we have as a community the luxury of taking the time to reflect, for the first time in our modern history, on the value of our rural areas. As a nature lover, I might be expected... https://www.scmp.com/article/569609/saving-our-priceless-green-assets?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/569609/saving-our-priceless-green-assets?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Oct 2006 16:00:00 +0000 In his book, The End of the Line, Charles Clover asks us to imagine a giant net being dragged along the African plains, scooping up all wildlife in its path - lions, cheetahs, herds of wildebeest, as well as countless other creatures; to imagine further the heavy boom of the net tearing up all trees, bushes and outcrops, leaving behind a wasteland. This is a vivid analogy of the devastation that is taking place in our seas, where it is known as trawling. Our seas are experiencing a scale of... https://www.scmp.com/article/489400/stop-slaughter-our-seas?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/489400/stop-slaughter-our-seas?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Feb 2005 16:00:00 +0000 A community will conserve what it values. But very often it will learn to value, too late, what has already disappeared. This is the key challenge for conservation today. Short-term pursuit of profit, technological advancement and a growing population have combined to create a destructive power which always seems to be one step ahead of the growing public perception of the need for conservation. Hong Kong's hell-for-leather approach to economic growth has resulted in the destruction of our... https://www.scmp.com/article/471389/flame-hope-our-environments-future-must-be-kept-burning?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/471389/flame-hope-our-environments-future-must-be-kept-burning?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Sep 2004 16:00:00 +0000