HK Observer | Change involves work

Robert Carroll

Diversifying the economy is an issue which has long been pursued by local economists and Beijing alike. While traditional pillars of the economy such as trading and shipping are in decline – and manufacturing is all but gone – financial and other services, as well as tourism, are flourishing. That base, however, is not wide enough for future prosperity. Successive governments have recognized the need for economic diversification, so implementing policies which foster diversification shouldn’t be a problem, right? Wrong.
There are several areas in which Hong Kong could be expanding. One could be as an arts hub, another as an educational hub and perhaps even another as a medical tourism hub. There should also be much more activity in technological and other start-ups and we should be holding regional sports and major entertainment events with more frequency.
Of these, only the establishment and maintenance of the arts and start-ups are being encouraged by the administration, with the latter a recent phenomenon. While there is an admirable push to create the necessary infrastructure for the state-of-the-art West Kowloon Cultural District, the project has suffered repeated delays since its inception in the 1990s.
Ominously, the District is now under its third chief executive. The first two chief executives, of leading international standing as arts centre directors, resigned before their contacts finished, citing health and personal reasons respectively. The current operational chief is a long-serving local civil servant with considerable experience in construction and housing and little-to-no background in arts or cultural management. The District has one of the world´s top museum curators,who has said he may also leave before the construction of the much vaunted M+ Museum is completed. Dealing with local officials may be possible in other advanced economies for these world leaders in their field, but Hong Kong officials, relative beginners in cultural matters, seem to know better.
As an educational hub, the city now boasts an arts college, an offshoot of an American institution. The city has regretfully lost out to a bid from much smaller Singapore to feature a more prestigious business college and film school. There is huge demand for international schools regionally but not enough has been done even to meet local demand.
Medical tourism is a field where Thailand and the Philippines have been leading the way for years. Hong Kong, on the other hand, very much a latecomer, faltered before that initiative could even get underway, attempting to close the doors to pregnant mainlanders seeking to give birth here for residential rights.  Why not have selective medical tourism? Private hospitals here already limit themselves to areas that are viewed as their most profitable and feasible services, leaving the rest for the major public in sector hospitals.
‘Start-ups’ has been a recent buzzword in official circles, but what is being done to provide real help to budding small entrepreneurs? With all the wealth of business training and acumen from the many MBAs from leading US and local business schools –
not to mention highly successful individuals in the commercial sphere – why is the financial sector not providing crucial venture capital? For a successful example of a regional start-up, you only have to look at Shenzen to see how that´s done. Why is the newcomer outshining the famously entrepreneurial Hong Kong?
For well over twenty years the need for a major sporting/entertainment venue or venues has been recognized, but legislation is only now being planned to fund a major Sports Stadium at the long-vacant Kai Tak airport site. Why only now?
While some segments of the civil service work admirably well, identity card applications services, for example, and immigration check points, there is far too much feet-dragging in other departments where for many, sticking to existing practices far outweighs any personal benefits of instituting change. Change involves more work and more work means greater possibility of error, the anathema to civil servants who would rather spend their time conspiring to lessen loads and avoid risks.