RTHK 鏗鏘集驪歌再唱 2013-10-06 (video uploaded by the third party)
It seems to us that the Immigration Wave has landed the metropolotan Hong Kong again! On a recent TV program produced by RTHK, a number of Hong Kong citizens have shown desperation and even anger towards the unforeseeable development of Hong Kong, leading them to reach an unwilling decision to bid farewell coldly to their motherland and enter a new kingdom on the other side of the world where any new comers can easily be identified as 'aliens' to the locals. Hong Kong, a wealthy land that ranks high in the majority charts that relate to profitable business activities, is not a dreamland to these people but a nightmare that drives them crazy even in daily life - surely, it is a land of opportunity to one only if he/she is the privileged that is capable of moving others' cheese to his/her pocket at the expense of the whole society. The reasons behind the motivations of the emigrants may be summarized as below:
First, the land of opportunity is no longer open to the underprivileged as it used to be. Possibly, the Lion Rock Spirit has become only a widespread song known to the Hong Kong citizens in the 21th century. Looking back over the past decades, the close door policy of mainland China has made Hong Kong a very important intermediary for the world that wants to make business with the 1.3 billion populated China. Nevertheless, since the 1980s, the door of China has opened to the world that led to a complete shift of role played by Hong Kong. The economic transformation from industrial basis to services basis used to create prosperity in Hong Kong in the past 20 years until the financial crisis in 1997. Indeed, the lack of diversified economic development and over dependency on financial industry has put Hong Kong to an extreme situation and widened the wealth gap in an unhealthy way. Now, everyone in Hong Kong makes more money than the counterparts, but the housing prices are surging with the vast amount of investment coming from technically all over the world. At the end, half of the salary turns out to be a shift to the pocket of the house owners, making housing loan or rent payment the main and only motivation for people to work in Hong Kong. The underprivileged are still the underprivileged and they found it hopeless to climb above the low income line because nothing is owned by the people of Hong Kong and everything that can contribute to huge profits can be sold to any wealthy man in the world at any time. Is Hong Kong a society, a community or a casino where the majority of the players are the losers.
Second, the conflicts arisen from competition of limited resources among various groups of people in Hong Kong makes Hong Kong a difficult place to stay long. Resources are often scare goods so they must be allocated effectively to ensure sustainability as the economics suggests. Here in Hong Kong, without an efficient management team, resources are never allocated to the most needed but are wasted in areas that are conceived to be essential to the so-called development of Hong Kong as the government said. The locals pay tax and contributes to the society and resources are not prioritized to them. How would the locals think about it? They are not asking for monetary rewards but simply a warm home where everyone lives as a family. The outcome is everyone fights for his/her right merely. Who would prefer staying in a place where fairness and justice has tortured?
Even the high school leavers are looking for oversea study places rather than staying in a dying city desperate for nothing - from Macau to Taiwan to Mainland China, it is not hard to find out the sudden increase of high school leavers who decided to go overseas to pursue their study. Will these students return after graduation? Who knows! But what we know now is that live is difficult so let enjoy today hoping for a better tomorrow!
