School has started for some of our students and, by next week, almost all Hong Kong students will be back in their classrooms. It has been quite an extraordinary summer, in that it finally resembled “normality”, post-Covid.
We saw families taking holidays again and the foot traffic at Hong Kong International Airport was sustained throughout the summer. Cathay Pacific carried more than 2 million passengers in July, a 15 per cent increase on the same month last year. Hong Kong’s economy expanded 3.3 per cent year on year in the second quarter. Hopefully, all that means better days are ahead.
The Summer Olympics in Paris brought back some crowds to our shopping centres. More importantly, it provided a rare opportunity to bring the community together to cheer on our athletes. Hong Kong’s Olympians made history with four medals, keeping us on the edge of our seats deep into the night.
The public had the chance to greet them during an open-top bus parade last week. The key now is whether we can sustain that momentum by building community spirit and supporting the development of sports in the city beyond the summer.
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Excited crowds greet Hong Kong’s Olympic heroes, rain fails to put a damper on parade
Excited crowds greet Hong Kong’s Olympic heroes, rain fails to put a damper on parade
But something that seems here to stay is climate change and the extreme weather it brings. This summer was extraordinarily hot; we had our hottest summer solstice in more than four decades.
The end of summer also means Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu and his team are putting together the next policy address. Lee held his first town hall meeting on August 18 to gather public views. It was a two-hour televised event, held behind closed doors at a school. It was also a highly controlled and orchestrated event, attended by 120 residents invited by the authorities.
Like good students, the preselected residents did their homework and took the opportunity to offer their suggestions to the government. They proposed ideas on recruiting volunteers to help tourists take photos on the waterfront and creating a new mascot for the city. Others spoke of their concerns over the impact of the sluggish economic recovery on the city’s small and medium-sized enterprises and questioned the government’s efforts in attracting foreign investment.
Like a good teacher, Lee responded with words of encouragement, saying he had confidence that things would improve and pledged to provide firms with more support. The best comment was his praise for Hong Kong people: “Hong Kong people are smart, you have a lot of great ideas … tell us about your projects, and we will do our best to support them.”
Chief Executive John Lee, second right, leaves a town hall in Tai Po on August 18, part of a series of public consultations ahead of his latest policy address. Photo: Elson Li
However, that is also where the problem lies. If we are indeed smart with many great ideas to share, how will the government hear about them? There are only going to be two of these strictly controlled community gatherings, and 120 residents per session does not give many opportunities to hear the public’s ideas. If we aren’t hand-picked for these town halls, what do we do? Write to the government?
This is a serious question for officials to consider. Did they not see the community spirit on display during the Olympics? Why are they not riding on that to bring people together as we seek to tackle the challenges ahead?
Perhaps the government is still wary of crowds after years of social unrest. If it believes its own narrative – that order has been restored – though, the people must have a chance to come together and contribute to Hong Kong’s future. There is so much work to be done, and a lack of public engagement while offloading the heavy lifting to community care teams will only hurt these efforts.
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Hong Kong’s Ying Ying delivers twins, becoming world’s oldest first-time giant panda mum
Hong Kong’s Ying Ying delivers twins, becoming world’s oldest first-time giant panda mum
Perception is everything. The best way to respond to those betting against Hong Kong and perpetuating the “negative discourse” about the city is to put the government’s confidence in its people on full display, through actions. Let people gather to hear the government’s plans. Let the people say what is on their minds. And let the people hear Lee’s pep talk.
Our Olympians and pandas are terrific mood-boosters, but really lifting the city out of the doldrums requires the government to focus on the community and rebuild its relationship with the public. Maybe our officials need to remember their school day assemblies? Having a few conversations with a small group of hand-picked people will not do.
Alice Wu is a political consultant and a former associate director of the Asia Pacific Media Network at UCLA
