Letters | Philippine and Hong Kong elections: what the numbers show

Readers discuss voting in Hong Kong, the handling of Covid-positive travellers’ luggage, the closure of saunas, and the task facing John Lee.

The Philippines

Letters

Published: 11:30am, 11 May 2022

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Up to 93,000 Filipinos in Hong Kong voted in the Philippine presidential election – a genuine, multiparty election. Meanwhile, Hong Kong just had its chief executive election where there was only one preapproved candidate and only 1,428 members of the exclusive Election Committee voted.

How ironic that Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong have more political rights than the 7.4 million residents here in electing their leaders. On the other hand, by securing 99.2 per cent of the 1,428 votes cast, John Lee Ka-chiu has joined the elite company of some leaders who secured more than 99 per cent of the vote in their countries.

North Korea’s Kim Jong-un did even better by picking up 100 per cent of the vote in 2014. Iraq’s Saddam Hussein also won 100 per cent in a 2002 referendum on whether his decades-long rule would continue.

The late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il fared almost as well as his son in 2009, with 99.9 per cent of the vote. Raul Castro earned 99.4 per cent in the 2008 Cuban elections. Turkmenistan’s Saparmurat Niyazov in 1992 and Chechnya’s United Russian Party in 2011 both secured 99.5 per cent.

Tom Yam, Lantau

02:07

Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jnr sweeps to landslide victory in Philippine presidential election

Fix policy on positive travellers’ baggage

Last weekend, I returned to Hong Kong and had the misfortune of recording a positive Covid-19 test upon arrival. This entailed a lengthy seven-hour wait at the airport before being taken by bus to the Novotel Citygate hotel in Tung Chung.

The most frustrating aspect of this unfortunate experience is attributable to Jardine Aviation Services. Government policy prevents positive cases from collecting their checked luggage from the airport and asks passengers to contact the relevant ground handling company to arrange delivery. Jardine say they cannot provide delivery – not even for a fee – and that the passenger or person authorised on their behalf must enter the restricted area at the airport to collect the suitcase.

This explanation is absurd. The result is that passengers with the misfortune to test positive who have flown in on airlines reliant on Jardine risk being stranded for days in quarantine without their essential belongings.

With non-residents now being allowed to enter Hong Kong, how do they expect foreigners with no local connections to retrieve their baggage in such circumstances? Jardine and the government need to take a long, hard look in the mirror and change this policy.

Nicholas Tam, Sai Ying Pun

Pools and gyms can open, why not saunas?

The government has taken some steps to relax social distancing measures under the umbrella of the “dynamic zero” strategy. But for two years it has kept sauna rooms closed, which means such facilities in many clubs remain off-limits. In contrast, gyms and indoor sports facilities were able to open on April 21, and from May 19 users will not be required to wear masks. What is the scientific basis for keeping sauna rooms closed?

J. Lau, Shouson Hill

Restoring faith in government is tall task

Hong Kong’s new leadership needs to regain the support of the masses by introducing policies to revive the city’s falling economy, listening to opinions in a sincere manner and improving the efficiency of government departments.

The future chief executive, John Lee Ka-chiu, must consider fixing the local economy as the first item on his to-do list. According to the Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong’s economy shrunk by 4 per cent during the first quarter of this year, which was much worse than expected because of the fifth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Shops closed down amid the imposition of strict anti-pandemic measures and the lack of mainland or foreign customers since the unrest. Besides giving away consumption vouchers, the new government should prepare to open the borders with the mainland and the rest of the world, attracting tourists to sustain the already-depressed local economy while keeping the risks of a sixth outbreak to a minimum.

Next, Lee must listen to opinions and criticism while solving problems in a more approachable manner. This includes long-term issues, such as the unaffordability of housing to low-income groups and younger generations.

More transitional units could be built, and procedures for building youth hostels must be simplified, given that only one hostel project has been completed in the past decade. Learning from the experience of 2019, the government’s communication channels with different stakeholders need optimisation so conflicts can be eased as quickly as possible.

Most importantly, the efficiency of operation in and between government departments must be maximised. Buck-passing has led to slow progress in meeting people’s needs in the past few decades. The inclined lifts connecting Tai Wo Hau Road and Wo Tong Tsui Street in Kwai Chung finally opened this year, about 20 years after they were first talked about. This was because the plot of land concerned was a bureaucratic no man’s land, leading to the buck being passed among the Highways, Buildings and Water Supplies Departments.

All in all, a lot has to be done for Hong Kong’s government to revive its local, and perhaps, international reputation. It is Lee’s great responsibility to make the city prosper again.

Torres Wong, Tseung Kwan O