A virus at the top
 
Philip Bowring IHT
Tuesday, April 1, 2003
HONG KONG The pneumonia epidemic now sweeping Hong Kong - and much of southern China - may just seem more bad luck. But the Hong Kong government's tardy response has underlined the lack of confidence in the administration of its Beijing-appointed chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa.
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Instead of quick action, the people of Hong Kong saw persistent denial of the dangers. Incompetence and indecision was mixed with an unwillingness to risk offending the mainland, the source of the virus, or to put public health interests before those of business.
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Much has rightly been made of the threat to Hong Kong's liberties posed by planned legislation that will outlaw vaguely defined subversion and other "national security" issues. But little outside attention had been paid to domestic developments that may pose a bigger threat to the city's reputation for internationalism and social harmony. That could change as the virus hits the headlines and popular discontent rises further.
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Mean, racist and self-serving are three adjectives that spring to critics' minds when considering recent actions of Tung's cabinet of personal appointees, many with little experience in politics or public service. The decisions hardly fit with Hong Kong's self-image, or its slogan of "Asia's world city."
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Faced with a large budget deficit, a government of rich men decided to hit the poorest first. Suggesting that unemployed people were shirking work and living on welfare, the government recently announced a cut of 11 percent in welfare payments.
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In reality only 20 percent of the unemployed receive any benefits. Most welfare recipients are over 65 or disabled. As a formal pension system was only started two years ago, many of the city's rapidly increasing number of old people have to rely on handouts. The cut was greater than that applied to civil service salaries, although at the top level these are the highest in the world and face one of the lowest tax rates - a maximum of 16 percent.
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Then the government decided to tax the next lowest in the income scale - the 250,000 "foreign domestic helpers," mostly Filipinos and Indonesians, who constitute 7 percent of Hong Kong's work force. They are paid - if they are lucky, because the minimum wage is little enforced - one third of the median wage, for working long hours to enable Hong Kong's middle classes to maximize their earnings while minimizing domestic chores.
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The domestic helpers' wages are to be taxed at 12 percent. Yet to reach the 12 percent tax bracket any other single person would need an income of $50,000 a year, or 10 times that of the foreign helpers.
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This has so outraged the Philippines that it is taking the Hong Kong government to court.
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It is hard for the Hong Kong government to shake off the racist tag. The helpers are almost all brown-skinned people, mostly from the Philippines and Indonesia. Long-established non-Chinese Asian communities persistently cite job discrimination and an education system biased against funding for minorities' schools.
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Complaints of abusive treatment by immigration officials of visitors from South Asia and Southeast Asia are frequent. But officials continue to resist requests - including from the United Nations - for legislation against racial discrimination.
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The government is also actively opposing attempts by the foreign helpers to be accorded the residence rights enshrined in the Basic Law, Hong Kong's mini-constitution.
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To attract capital, the government is now proposing to give permanent residence to business executives, other than from the mainland, who invest the local equivalent of $830,000. It remains to be seen how many people who are not ethnic Chinese will want, or be allowed, to take up the offer.
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It may be inevitable that Hong Kong becomes more Chinese and less international. But its government daily forgets that internationalism is Hong Kong's unique edge over its high-profile rival Shanghai, or its low-cost neighbor Shenzhen.
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As for the phrase "self-serving," the local media feeds on a rich diet of stories of decisions taken by ministers that serve the interests of themselves or particular business interests rather than the community at large.
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In mid-2002 Tung replaced civil servants with his own nominees at the head of policy-making departments. This was billed as a "responsibility system." But they are responsible only to him, not the legislature. Serious errors of personal conduct, as well as of policy-making, have gone unpunished.
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The pneumonia virus is serious. So is the virus embedded in the Tung administration.

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