Walking a Tight Rope

Hong Kong is a crowded city and a popular tourist destination. Tourists are welcomed here but there’s one group that’s getting a cold shoulder from some of the local residents who have described them as “invading locusts.” Business owners love them because they spend, spend, spend their yuans on luxury goods to take advantage of the lower taxes in Hong Kong. Some of these Mainland tourists have also planted their roots here. The British returned Hong Kong to Chinese control in 1997. Since then, more than three quarters of a million mainland residents have moved to Hong Kong straining the city’s services and infrastructure. This has resulted in a growing anti-mainland sentiment in the city. The Hong Kong authorities are in fact weighing a change in their laws to discourage residents from jeering and insulting mainland Chinese visitors.
A comment by a local lawmaker reported in the South China Morning Post in mid- March prompted me to think about political identity. Hong Kongers [a word recently added to the Oxford English Dictionary] have a unique cultural spirit and political identity. They speak Cantonese, not Mandarin. They have a democratic tradition and value discussion and dialogue. Universal suffrage seems to be their motto here. These concepts must seem so foreign to Beijing and it is Beijing that is calling the shots and is tightening its grip on the city. Hong Kong lawmakers and politicians will be heading to the capital in April to discuss how to pick candidates for the 2017 elections for the chief executive. China favors vetting of the candidates and the pan Democrats here are against this kind of screening. Let’s see what happens.
In Singapore too new immigration much of it from China is also causing feelings of resentment and unease in the local population. Questions like who is a Singaporean? Or who is a Hong Konger or a Beijinger become more relevant in times like these. When I was growing up in young Singapore various practices helped us to bond as a people. One was the singing of the national anthem and the recitation of the pledge at school each morning. Our then prime minister Lee Kuan Yew made many speeches educating us about geopolitics and what Singapore had to achieve to survive. Those lessons stayed with us. Of course it takes much more to build a nation and forging an identity is achieved through shared struggles and experiences over time. I was pleased to see during my visit there a recognition of the pioneer generation – men and women who led in critical times and helped make Singapore what it is today. Gratitude is a quality often lacking in our world nowadays and this recognition was timely since the country turns 50 next year. There was much media coverage about the pioneer generation but it is impossible to recognize all involved. I’m proud to say that my brother Teffail – Civil Servant Extraordinaire was a valuable player in Singapore’s progress. We are all full of pride for all his achievements, especially during those challenging times.
Till the next time, peace to all.