Hong Kong people have to decide what to make of its future?

CNA
Hong Kong people have to decide what to make of its future: MM Lee
By Channel NewsAsia's Hong Kong Correspondent Roland Lim

HONG KONG : Singapore's Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said the Hong Kong people had to decide what to make of its future and how to work with its new Chief Executive.

On a visit to Hong Kong, he said he believes the territory can work within the 'One Country, Two Systems' framework and thrive.

Mr Lee is a friend of former Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, and met him in private on Tuesday.

The inevitable question about Mr Tung's performance came up during a lunch where Mr Lee addressed a gathering of the business elite.

He said Mr Tung was too nice, not sufficiently young and nimble enough, and was not a street-fighter.

But that is the past - Hong Kong's future lies within the 'One Country, Two Systems' framework.

Mr Lee said: "Within those limits, you can thrive and prosper, as indeed, the Chinese leaders have shown that they are not unhelpful. When I was last here, all these changes - allowing your companies special permission to operate in China and tourists to come without hinderance, the economy was not as buoyant.

"Now property prices have gone up 40 percent, but please remember, the same tap that was opened, can be closed. I am not sure it is my job to tell the next Chief Executive how to be a street-fighter."

As for his assessment of Acting leader Donald Tsang, Mr Lee said he had a completely different personality compared to Mr Tung, younger and likely to learn from his predecessor's mistakes.

He noted Hong Kong had come a long way since the handover in 1997 and can thrive, provided it 'does not disturb the peace'.

Mr Lee said: "I said then if Hong Kong offered opportunities of growth, prosperity, business, I will stay but if it didn't, I would leave. Would you consider politics? I said 'no', it's a thankless job, you have a master in China, you have subsidiary masters in Hong Kong, and what Hong Kong was led to believe it wanted in the last few years of Chris Patten and Tiananmen, is what the leaders in Beijing cannot give.

"Beijing has no intention of allowing Hong Kong to be a pace-setter or trojan-horse, to try and change the system in China. Anything you do here in Hong Kong which does not disturb or can be an example what China should do, that they are prepared to allow."

MM Lee need not worry for the HK people as they are a group of innovative, self-motivated and highly adaptable people.

The rule by the British coloniser had ironically spawned a populace that is far more creative and entrepreneurial than an independent democratic country like Singapore. The main reason is probably because the colonial master had granted its people constitutional liberalism - protecting its people basic rights and administering a fair court system and bureaucracy.

The 156 years of liberal governance by the British had not only allowed the Hong Kong people develop their potential freely and fully but also made them more responsible, more accomodating to differences and disinclined towards violence.