明報英語網「雙語社評」english.mingpao.com/critic.htm
W HAT possible Chief Executive (CE) candidates have said is regarded as indicative of major policies they might carry out if they should get elected. Rita Fan, one of them, has repeatedly said it is a challenge the next CE must face to have laws enacted pursuant to Article 23 of the Basic Law. So far she is the only CEaspirant that has mentioned Article 23.
Is it necessary for the next CE to accomplish the task?
The Tsang administration's term expires in fourteen months. It is in such circumstances and has such will to run the SAR well that we will be mightily fortunate if Hong Kong's problems do not rapidly multiply or worsen in the period. When the next CE takes office, he or she will be faced with heaps ofeconomic and social problems that have accumulated over the past fifteen years. He or shemust come up with general and specific policies and measures to deal with them.
First, the Tsang administration will leave behind a dangerous property bubble. The next CE must formulate policy measures to minimise the damage its burst may cause to (the adverse economic and social impact it may have on) the SAR. Furthermore,he or she must strategically straighten out the relationship between Hong Kong's property sector and its economy and come up with a sensible land policy.
Second, since Hong Kong reverted to Chinese sovereignty fifteen years ago, some advantages it had over mainland places have gradually disappeared. It should be the next CE's top priority to develop the economy, make real efforts to foster thesix "advantage" industries, bring about industrial diversity and create jobs in the light of Hong Kong's demographics.
Third, Hong Kong has been included in the twelfth five-year plan (for the first time in such a plan). The next CE must seek not only to foster Hong Kong's economic development but also to strengthen its ties with the mainland so that they will cooperate more closely with each other and Hong Kong's development will largely keep pace with the mainland's. This should top the next CE's agenda.
Fourth, Hong Kong is plagued with such deep-rooted contradictions that society is seething with resentment. The next CE must urgently take measures to deal with them and end what may lead to social unrest.
Fifth, it is primarily thanks to Hong Kong's constitutional system that the SAR government has been ineffective over the past fifteen years. The sixty legislators officials face in the legislative chamber are all in opposition. This is rarely the case in other parts of the world. How can the government smoothly
implement its policies?The relationship between Hong Kong's executive and its legislature (which the Basic Law stipulates) incessantly breeds internal strife. Under the present system, the CE is fated to encounter enormous difficulties, whoever he or she may be. In our view, the next CE should acquaint the central government with this constitutional problem. He or she should convince Beijing of the need to amend the Basic Law to allow Hong Kong to adopt a multi-party system. This is the only way to undo the Gordian knot of Hong Kong's governance.
In our view, any of the five tasks mentioned above seems more urgent than Article 23 legislation. There is no sign that the nation's security is in danger because Hong Kong has yet to enact laws as Article 23 of the Basic Law requires it to do. The task may be urgent if the central government tells Hong Kong to accomplish it within a certain period of time. However, the public has never heard the central government intends to do so. Therefore, we do not think the next CE needs to accomplish it urgently.
Furthermore, society will be divided and polarised as soon as the SAR begins to make laws pursuant to Article 23. The government being inherently weak under the present system, there is no telling how the situation will evolve. If the government acts wilfully regardless of reality, not only the CE, but also society, will pay dearly for it.
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