KINGSPARK NEWS

Club Number: 30119

2007-08 Rotary Year : Issue 16 : 3 March 2008

Contents

Editorial (When Too Much Is Not Enough) - By Francis Wann
From the Charter President (The Passing of an Icon) - By CP John Wan
Letters to Editor
The Board

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EDITORIAL

When Too Much Is Not Enough

I was at a talk by Leo Goodstadt last Friday and the subject was "Mandarin Unmasked - the private performance of Hong Kong's financial secretaries 1937 -87). Recently he wrote "Uneasy Partners - The conflict between Public interest and Private Profit in Hong Kong" and he must have been heavily booked for speeches or appearances.

I still remember the days when he hosted the current affairs programme "Newsline" and his questions were as sharp (and perhaps piercing) as his eyes. He served as the Head of the controversial Central Policy Unit right up to the handover in 1997 - a position tailor-made for him - and enjoyed access to the most confidential information regarding monetary and financial matters, much of which was not available even to legislators and senior civil servants.

It was most appropriate as his talk came only two days after our financial secretary John Tsang delivered his maiden budget speech last Wednesday. Goodstadt did not specifically comment on his budget proposals, but what he did say explained at least the prevalent mentality of the Government. Indeed having worked with three secretaries in succession - Piers Jacobs (86-91), Hamish Macleod (91-95), and Donald Tsang (95-97), he knows at least a thing or two about where the Government interests lie.

He said most of our financial secretaries enjoyed tremendous popularity and influence on the Government which they clearly didn't deserve. The fact that the Government wants the public to really believe that the financial secretary makes all the important decisions alone is like putting on a show, especially in recent decades. And whether we like it or not, budget speeches are getting unnecessarily longer than ever, and that also makes people think that the financial secretary has tried his best to cover everything, that he is accountable to the public.

In fact, most didn't give a damn to figures and statistics. Financial secretaries are good at playing with figures - and misleading the public. Goodstadt was critical about financial secretaries with the exceptions of Cowperthwaite and later John Bremridge who came in from the industry. Cowperthwaite was best remembered for the concept of positive non-intervention, and during his term with Governor Sir David Trench, we saw the introduction of compulsory education, housing programs, labour ordinance, social assistance scheme, etc. When the labour ordinance was drafted, Goodstadt recalled, it was heavily opposed by the industry and their representatives compiled their own studies. Goodstadt had to remind Sir David that those reports were written by people with their own agenda.

He said Philip Haddon-cave was unfortunate in a way that he came in the 70s when there was an upsurge of academics with masters degrees, and financial planning became an academic discipline. It was the age of intellectual, and there were more opposition from the grassroots. But in those days, our economy was thriving, and at least there were jobs everywhere. It was also in the 70s when the macro-economic trend suddenly became popular and people started talking about GDPs, PPP, and GDP per capita and the like.

Is there a vacuum after the handover? We don¡¦t seem to see much financial vision from our ministers and yet they now all carry the term ¡§accountability¡¨ on their sleeves. Ever since the handover, from Donald Tsang to Leung Kamchung to Henry Tang, there hasn¡¦t been enough determination to ¡§listen to the people¡¨ and mean it

Of course it¡¦s easy to please the public when the budget is laced with sweeteners. With our massive surplus and fiscal reserve, anyone can produce a budget which wins applause. Those rebates and extras are indeed pleasant surprises but John Tsang had better get his priorities right. If our financial secretary understands the needs of the community, he wouldn¡¦t have mentioned things like an additional 100 more day care places, 278 more subsidized residential care places, and 180 more infirmary places¡K Such piecemeal fashion was calculated to avoid giving us the entire picture.

In the sixties, the government said Hong Kong¡¦s economy was ruined by the refugees; today our financial secretary said it will be ruined by the pensioners ¡V if we raise their allowance.

¡§Stories of rags to riches are not uncommon in Hong Kong. May it continues to be Budget Speech," Hamish Macleod.

But when is too much not enough? .

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From the Charter President

The Passing of an Icon

I cannot remember the exact date, but it would be early February and I was in Tasmania seeping a local beer in a local golf club, waiting for a taxi to take us back to the hotel. I looked up and saw three flags flying at half mast. I wondered wo among the rich and famous had passed away. One doesn't read the news as diligently during holidays as one would when one is not. So I turned to the barman who told me right away that Australians were mourning one of their home grown icons, non other than Heath Ledger who passed away on 22 January 2008, from accidental overdose of prescription of drugs.

My friend sitting next to me quipped, "Do you think Hong Kong would follow suit if our icon Shum Fei-fei passed away?"

It would not be meaningful to compare practices between countires and cultures. Many of us in Hong Kong have come across Ledger through Brokeback Mountain. Arguably, Ledger had achieved international fame through his films and through his personal style. He was not even 30 when he died; and nobody expected that, the least the person himself.

Fei Fei spanned a much long career in the local and regional entertainment scene. The Chief Executive referred to her as a local icon who had brought laughter and pleasure to so many over the years. Since her death on 19 February, the printed media, the electronic media and websites have been flooded with information and nostalgia on the Hong Kong icon and quite rightly so. Then the Coliseum opened up to the public to mourn her passage - a first in its history, which attracted record numbers and "Tears flow as friends and the public bid farewell to Fei Fei" was today's SCMP headline.

It is probably true that everyone in Hong Kong knows who Fei Fei is. True, the media, and the local TV station in particular has helped to create such celebrity status, but her larger than life personality can only be attributed to her alone. Her success had not come easy. No doubt, she has worked doubly if not trebly hard and her heart is always in the right place, from the many reviews and comments in the media. She would fit into the bill of a Rotarian - a business and professional person who has pledged herself to the highest business and professional standards; and who spent all her life working for understanding between people and for world peace.

Some commentators have alluded to her failure to take care of her own health as a cause of her somewhat premature death, while others have said that behind the hearty laughters and ever-happy face are sweat and tears and so on. They could be right, but the debate is meaningless. "When you are dead, nothing's right."

Now, her only daughter Joyce appears to be taking on the task of living her mother's legacy. She has already said publicly that she would be satisfied if she could be "just a silver of her greatness."

Once again, it is not too meaningful to compare individuals or to look for the likeness or shadows of someone past in the surviving. Having said that, children would always carry past karma of their parents and are their extensions. For that matter, we as a collective community would inherit or rub off from each other, good or bad, whether we like it or not.

Hong Kong has lost an icon, a very significant and important one. After all the tears and mourning, life must go on and will go on. Her spirit, her charisma, her professionalism, her fighting spirit, her Hong Kong spirit would live on and would be manifested in people you least expect.

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Letters to Editor

Views in any article in Kingspark News reflect those of the authors. They are not necessarily the views of the Rotary Club of Kingspark or of District 3450. You are welcome to write to Chief Editor Francis Wann or Club Webmaster John Wan on any topic, particularly in response to articles published in Kingspark News. We would publish all contributions as long as the authors identify themselves, the contents are not offensive or abusive, and would not offend common decency or common sense. You need not be a Rotarian to write to us and you have a choice to withhold your name in the published version. Where the contents make reference to statements or policies of individuals or organizations, we would try to obtain a response from the latter for publication in the same issue if possible.

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The Board

President : Marvin Lai
President-Elect and Membership: Joyce Mak
Vice-President and Public Relations: Michael Eyles
Secretary : Kennedy Tsang
Treasurer : Ted Ho
Rotary Foundation : Patrick Wong
Club Administration : Edward Lau
Service Projects : Peter Lo
Sergeant-at-Arms : Alexander Kar

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