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Conclusions: History Repeats Itself
- Hong Kong University Press, HKU
- Chapter
- Additional Information
This book has described a severe decline in the wellbeing of the community and the rise of a new form of poverty. The defining feature of poverty in contemporary Hong Kong is that it cannot be blamed on economic recession, currency collapse, trade protectionism overseas, loss of competitiveness, political unrest or industrial or social strife. Hong Kong has escaped all such threats to its prosperity, chapter after chapter have demonstrated. This society has remained a model of political maturity and social discipline even though social reforms introduced in earlier decades have been dismantled as the government retreated from its responsibilities not only towards the needy and the vulnerable but towards the community as a whole. Who Are the New Poor? Contemporary Hong Kong has continued to flourish economically and to enjoy social stability. The welfare minister proudly declared in mid-2013 that ‘our city has all the necessary prerequisites to provide social protection and satisfy the basic needs of everyone in the community ’. This statement was not open to challenge. He then asserted that ‘by whatever yardstick, the Hong Kong SAR Government has not dodged and will never shy away from finding the best possible solutions to help the poor’.1 This book has shown how tragically short of this standard the government has consistently fallen. The emergence in this century of a new poor has been traced in previous chapters, which have identified who these unfortunates are and how they are the victims of misguided official policies. • Those suffering from the conventional causes of poverty: destitution caused by unemployment, low wages and no savings. In Hong Kong, their numbers ought to be minimal because the truly destitute are eligible for social security regardless of residence and the other Conclusions: History Repeats Itself 216 Poverty in the Midst of Affluence restrictions that normally apply to applicants for Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA). Yet, as previous chapters have shown, the gaps in this safety net are serious. • Patients suffering from serious illnesses, the infirm and those with disabilities . The health and welfare programmes are supposed to ensure that these groups get the treatment and facilities they need even if they cannot afford the Hospital Authority’s fees and charges. There is supposed to be no discrimination against those who lack money. The government’s commitments and legal obligations have not been honoured. • Children and students denied equal access to good quality education because of their families’ limited finances. The costs of education have been raised so that lower-income families have to make a painful decision. They can go into debt and impoverish themselves in order to give their sons and daughters the best possible schooling or condemn them to the lower levels of the labour market. Very similar are the young people who are truly caring. They refuse to apply for education loans or to let their parents borrow money to pay the fees. These youngsters believe their earnings are needed to relieve the immediate financial strain on their parents, to pay for a sick relative’s treatment or for another child’s schooling . Or they feel they could not repay the loans without serious hardship to the family. • The large numbers of the elderly and unemployed who meet the criteria for CSSA but do not receive it. They choose poverty because the application process is so demeaning and the stigma which the government has created around CSSA beneficiaries is too humiliating. They include the heroic parent (or grandparent) who refuses to impose an extra burden on the younger generation through bowing to the CSSA’s insistence on getting a financial contribution from family members. • Individuals and families who have adequate earnings and a decent standard of living but are confronted by serious illness or some similar emergency. Often, the government insists that their medical treatment must be self-financed. Frequently, too, waiting times for diagnosis, treatment or care for the loved one in public hospitals seem so distressingly long that the family beggar themselves in the private sector. To these should be added the victims of past policy decisions that have left them in miserable conditions which they could not be expected to overcome through their own efforts. • The elderly and unemployed who suffer the ‘disgrace’ of relying on CSSA. These are the victims of decades of refusal by the [34.229.50.161] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 00:08 GMT) Conclusions: History Repeats Itself 217 government-business nexus to ensure that the workforce was enabled to buy...