That is why a country like Singapore, which does not have the natural advantages that Hong Kong has (country parks, mountains which force transit in valleys - making efficient and profitable mass-transportation possible, etc) in running around circles around Hong Kong.
Here are a few points of evidence to that fact with the current government of Carrie Lam:
Here are a few points of evidence to that fact with the current government of Carrie Lam:
- Stifling innovation and market economics rather than promoting them
- AirBnB is illegal in Hong Kong. No attempts at opening up
- Uber is illegal in Hong Kong. No attempts at breaking the taxi cartel. Yet, while cheap, taxi service is terrible in Hong Kong - Focus on wrong things:
- Extradition bill, flag bill, anthem bill. All things that were solutions to non-problems
- Plans to reclaim 1,000 hectares to build an island for housing at a cost of $80B USD which will only be ready for occupants in 30 years, when population will actually be decreasing rather than focusing on the current housing needs of the population by doing land resumption in the New Territories. Much better things could be done with the money
- Aligned with whatever whatever useless Belt-and-roads projects that Beijing deems are necessary to build its grand-empire. Costly and little used Macau-Zuhai bridge and Express Rail are prime examples 1,2,3 - Lack of leadership in adversity
- Land sharing scheme was postponed after extradition bill debacle as Lam is afraid of tensions, while this scheme is uncontroversial - Stubbornness and complete misunderstanding of leading versus managing:
FOr the extradition bill, Carrie Lam cited a FATF 2008 judgment that Hong Kong's "absence of an extradition deal" was "most significant deficit". It seem that Carrie Lam was unable to weight the benefit of reaching such an agreement versus the population's distrust for the Chinese system of justice. Again here, it felt like the work of a career civil-servant who does not know how to lead but simply react to reports and orders - Bad nominations (chief justice)
- Bad communication (speech pulling the extradition bill)
- No decent environmental policies:
- Clueless handling of electric vehicles and growth of car ownership in Hong Kong while Singapore has capped i's new car registrations (yet, Hong Kong public transportation is vastly more efficient). Solutions are easy and can be immediate.
- No policy or policy framework for single-use plastics while beaches are littered with them.
- Absolutely no political will nor understanding of these problems from Carrie Lam's administration
The extradition bill episode crystallized the reality of the incompetent government supported by a lackey legco. It became quite clear that Carrie Lam is a completely inept politician; the career civil-servant has reached her level of incompetence.
