Lack of universal suffrage cause of many city ills, says legislator
The absence of a directly elected government has been the source of many of the city's social problems, a legislator said yesterday.
Albert Chan Wai-yip, of the League of Social Democrats, accused Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen's administration of lacking the commitment to introduce full democracy.
The lawmaker, formerly with the Democratic Party, also accused the chief executive of favouring tycoons and the rich, while being blind to the hardships of the needy.
'An elected government usually listens to the demands of its electorate. It will not blatantly serve only the interest of the tycoons, but in Hong Kong, it is not the case,' Mr Chan said on the RTHK programme Letter to Hong Kong.
'Here, the major concern of key officials, including the chief executive, is to follow the directives of the central government ... and to attend only to the needs of the rich.'
Mr Chan said universal suffrage would open up the system to the rest of the citizens.
His comments came a day after Mr Tsang, on a visit to Singapore, said he could not give an 'opportunist timetable' for universal suffrage. But he said any time, including 2012, was a possibility.
But Mr Chan was not optimistic about democratic development.
'It was 21 years ago that I publicly advocated universal suffrage,' said Mr Chan, who first ran in the district board election at that time.
He said despite the big turnout for the July 1 pro-democracy marches over the past three years, 'people's demands have fallen on deaf ears'.
He also blamed the government for the hardships of the poor, saying its policies had widened the income gap and condemned ordinary people to poverty.
'People in Hong Kong have been reduced to being slaves for the giant property developers. [The government] should treat people as human beings, not just as statistics, and should provide more support and assistance to those in need.'
