Hong Kong Policy Address A Buffet of Words

A record-long policy address with few highlights

Yesterday Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu delivered his policy address in the Legislative Council, which took him a record three hours and 22 minutes to deliver -- sitting down.

One person on X, formerly known as Twitter, compared this number to the statistics of runners in the 2023 Standard Chartered Marathon. It seems 377 runners were faster than Lee giving his speech.

CE supporters wore green ties and scarves

Another observation was that the pro-Beijing camp wore green neckties or scarves as a show of solidarity with the chief executive.

Some critics described the policy address as lacking focus, comparing it to an all-you-can-eat meal.

"It is like a buffet dinner, it needs a theme such as Tasmania Oyster or Argentinian steak to attract diners. If the investment theme is about everything, it is hard to attract investors," said Simon Lee, co-director of the International Business and Chinese Enterprise program at Chinese University.

Centrist lawmaker Tik Chi-yuen described the policies for the welfare sector as "putting old wine into a new bottle."

"It seems like the city leader copied and pasted welfare measures proposed by different parties and NGOs to his policy address. You cannot see a well-designed strategy, with timetable and priorities, presented inside the blueprint," he said.

Tik says Lee's speech on welfare had no strategy

One policy that shows how out of touch the Lee administration is, is the attempt to boost the city's birthrate by promising parents of newborns will be given a one-off amount of HK$20,000 and would be prioritised for subsidised housing (as long as they don't make more than HK$62,000 a month).

Compare this proposal with Singapore, which is handing out the equivalent of HK$62,000.

Does Lee not know how much it costs to raise a family, or how much rent is these days? HK$20,000 is a drop in the bucket and will hardly push the birthrate up...

Almost Half of Secondary School Students are Depressed

Many students participated in the protests, some now in jail

After over two and a half years of the pandemic with schools closed and at-home learning from computer monitors has taken a toll on Hong Kong students' mental health. 

We are not surprised.

NGO Baptist Oi Kwan Social Service conducted a survey among 1,192 secondary school pupils and found 48 percent of them had symptoms of depression, including feeling hopeless about the future, or a loss of fun. Some 36 percent displayed moderate to very severe signs of depression.

Pandemic has taken a toll on students mentally

In addition, 51 percent of those interviewed were found to have symptoms of anxiety, such as being afraid of embarrassing themselves, dry mouth and trembling. These cases needed professional help.

Ivan Fang, a committee member of the NGO said mental stress often stemmed from a dissatisfaction with daily life. The students who did the survey said they were most upset about the Covid-19 pandemic, their education and the state of society.

Sadly this will be a vindication for parents who took the difficult decision of moving their families from Hong Kong to start their lives elsewhere. While they are mostly in primary school, these children who have migrated to places like the UK, Australia, and Canada seem to be happy and not dragged down by the severe pandemic restrictions like in Hong Kong.

In some cases parents may want their children to complete secondary school and then go abroad for university, or others don't have the means to leave the city. But with the pandemic taking such a toll on these young people, they probably can't hang on much longer.

Depressed students feel hopeless about the future 

Perhaps it's no wonder that 70 percent of the respondents also had poor relationships with their parents, making the students' mental health even worse. 

It's also not helpful that the government does not value its next generation and instead throws it in jail.

Hopefully these students will address their symptoms and understand they are not alone. Everyone in Hong Kong is going through not only the trauma of the pandemic, but also that of the 2019 protests and the political repression happening now.

It's a lot to process for a teenager, let alone an adult.