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For better or for worse?Hong Kong was re-united with China for 10 years.It is time for the verdict.

Our air is not safer, our harbor still under threat of reclamation, our streets jammed with cars, our landfill reaching full capacity, our air-conditioners are in full blast, our disposable plastic bags are ubiquitous, our power plants are bargaining for their franchise to pollute with burning dirty coal, our half-empty buses clogged the major thoroughfare, our blinding mega neon signage continue throughout the night, our historical landmarks and our indigenous heritage are fast demolished with little regrets , our leader and policy makers’ vision fixated on business as usual and bureaucratic complacency.In a nutshell, we are still suffering from a hangover.

Beijing’s assurance of 50 years “status quo” for Hong Kong SAR is perhaps the good reason for a hangover of the handover.Hong Kong is still a city of paradox, suffering from a split personality syndrome.

Hong Kong aspires to be a world-class city, but it retreats to a second-class mentality on city planning.The dis-integrated harbour front development, the road-dominated city planning, the competing skyscrapers blocking city ventilation, the tolerance of New Territories’ illegal land use and the destruction of neighborhoods in the name of urban renewal are testimonies of short-term vision.

Hong Kong enjoys a developed country status, but it retreats to developing country governance.There was no urgency to overhaul its outdated air quality objective (emission standards), there was reluctance to heed public’s sentiment for culture and heritage, worse still, the administration prefers to spend taxpayer money for man-made replicas than conserving the legacy, prefers to build mickey-mouse theme parks than to protect natural countryside.

In the past ten years, I have the opportunity to serve on various government advisory committees relating to environmental policy, harbour development countryside protection as well as community participation.I was privileged to witness closed-door policy making.In the name of public representation and consultation, the advisory committees were often hijacked to become a legitimization process for fore-gone government decisions.The Hong Kong SAR has done little to shed its colonial past.

In the past ten years, I have the opportunity to engage in policy discussions with the last Governor, Mr. Chris Patten; the first Chief Executive, Mr. Tung Chee Hwa and his successor, Mr. Donald Tsang.I recalled their comments on the same issue, namely, the VictoriaHarbour water quality.The last Governor, Mr. Patten’s parting word in 1997, wished he could be remembered for pledging funding for a first stage clean up of the harbour pollution, which would be collectively dumped into the South China Sea after minimal screening.He even joked that he did not mind having his legacy in the name of the Patten Sewerage.

Mr. Tung Chee Hwa, the first Chief Executive who took over in 1997, was handed a smelly legacy.There was growing public outcry including academic condemnation on both side of the border, with regard to the ethical aspect of dumping untreated sewage in somebody’s backyard.In his green policy address in 1999, Mr. Tung called for a review by an international panel of experts.He heeded public concern but it was too late for a u-turn because the tunneling has already begun.History repeats itself.Fast forward ten years, Government dismissed a u-turn on the Central Wanchai Bypass harbour reclamation using a similar justification that the project is too advanced for any back-pedaling.

In August 2006, at a meeting with environmental organizations, Mr. Donald Tsang, the “accidental” Chief Executive who succeeded Mr. Tung and seeking for a second term spoke his mind about the VictoriaHarbour sewage scheme.

He lamented the price tag for tertiary treatment advocated by scholars and environmentally concerned groups.He has no patience for understanding the importance of integrated water resource management or sustainability planning in response to a looming water shortage crisis in China.Financial cost is the pre-occupation of his policy consideration.

The contrast in environmental governance has set the stage for things to come in the next 10 years. Is there hope for enlightened leadership when our Chief Executive’s priority concern is on short-term growth and bureaucratic expediency?Is there a robust check and balance of power when political parties often hijack the legislative process?Is public interest safeguarded when big business interest is entrenched in land policies and utility monopolies?

Hong Kong will continue to indulge in the hangover of a status quo.The prevalent mentality is to stay in Business Class and looking out for free upgrade to First Class.Doubtless to say, those freebies will have to come from no other than China.Hangover from handover, it is the hallmark of another wait-list decade ahead.

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meing@foe.org.hk