Betrayal of masses sure to spell failure for those in power
Opposition to reform of the Hong Kong Medical Council, costly closure of city gym firm and protest by tenants of subdivided flats show blatant disregard for interests of the common people
One of the dominant grand narratives of our time is how the elites betray the interests of the masses. It is a story that people around the world not only understand but can relate to because they are all part of it.
When Britain’s new Prime Minister Theresa May gave her first speech last week, she was of course addressing the British people. But how could Hongkongers not feel a pang of recognition as she talked about the “burning injustice” that the blacks, women, workers, youngsters and the poor suffer in today’s Britain, and pledged to make the country work “not just for a privileged few, but for every one of us”?
Take a look at what happened in Hong Kong in the past week or so. Government efforts to reform the Medical Council, the statutory body that licenses and disciplines doctors, came to nothing due to stiff opposition by doctors’ groups and medical students. There are currently 900 complaints in the backlog that the council has to deal with, and the bill proposed by the government, if passed, would speed up the waiting time for hearings from 58 to 30 months. Yet, in the name of safeguarding professional independence, lawmaker for the medical sector Dr Leung Ka-lau single-handedly held a time-stalling campaign at Legislative Council meetings by frequently making quorum calls.
A 20-year-old fitness enterprise shut all its gym and yoga locations and threw hundreds of staff and tens of thousands of members into limbo. This should not have happened. Despite years of strong demand for a cooling-off period for fitness and cosmetics industry products and enhancing consumer protection, the government turned a blind eye.
Tenants of subdivided flats protested against the lack of rent control measures and the removal of tenure security from the Landlord and Tenant Ordinance since 2004.
The thread that runs through these events is a blatant disregard for the interests of the common people. Patients, consumers and tenants are being left in the cold by those who are supposed to look after their interests. Dr Leung, for example, may be an elected representative of the medical sector, but he took an oath to serve the entire populace before he assumed office.
The same is true of government officials. There is a reason why they are called public servants – they exist to serve the interests of the public. If, in the setting of priorities and the formulation and execution of policies, they let the balance of power swing away from the masses in favour of the rich, the powerful and the privileged, they will fail at their most basic task.
Perry Lam is a local cultural critic
