Dear Editor,
It’s time for us to stop blaming
I am writing to air my opinion about the building of illegal structures of our Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying. Recently, many citizens are criticizing the bankruptcy of his integrity and a row has erupted over whether Leung should resign. Also, the pan-democrats are planning to move a non-confidence motion against Leung. In the following, I am going to show what my concerns are towards this controversy.
As a Hongkonger, I think it is understandable for other Hongkongers to be so furious at being kept in the dark by Leung towards the illegal structures of his Peak home. Therefore, I agree that Leung deserves flak. Moreover, there have already been many actions taken by various parties, which aim at giving pressure to the government and Leung. For example, in the Legco, a non-binding non-confidence motion has been passed and some members of the general public have organised a petition to the government. These all show the dissatisfaction of Hongkongers towards the fault of Leung.
Some people even believe that Leung would not have been the chief executive if the scandal had been exposed during the election. However, I think we should not forget that Henry Tang Ying-yen handled his scandal in an inept way like shuffling the responsibilities to his wife and thus his approval ratings nosedived. In comparison, Leung did not shirk his responsibilities for his mistake. In my opinion, it is somehow impertinent of people to link his winning in the election with resignation.
To tackle the problem of illegal building work completely, I think that Leung has to account for his mistakes as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Leung has to answer all the questions from the public honestly and forthrightly, and pledge to tear down the illegal structures according to the law in order to settle the issue once and for all. For citizens like us, it is always necessary to point out the mistakes of the government. Yet we also have to be tolerant, like to forgive and forget if the government apologizes and promises that similar incidents will not happen again. It is because we still have to collaborate to create a better Hong Kong in the future.
This farce has already hanged in air for long. The government has wasted a lot of time. In fact, there are many more social problems need to be solved. And it is time for us to move on, right?
Yours faithfully,
Cathy Cheung