Collapse of public governance

Three days ago Moody's downgraded Hong Kong's sovereign credit rating on the ground that Hong Kong government's governance is lower than previously estimated mainly due to its inability to resolve the already seven months long yet on-going civil unrest. Probably it is a coincidence or may be not, however, Carrie Lam's administration demonstrates another governance crisis amid the brink of an outbreak of pandemic, the Wuhan coronavirus.

Apparently the Hong Kong government lags behind in coping with the ever-evolving possible pandemic. In his speech two days ago, the Chief Secretary, Matthew Cheung, explained why health declaration is not implemented upon the passengers from the Express Rail trains coming from China that the process could build up blocks of people in the arrival hall while the gathering of people could even facilitate the transmission of virus, if there is any asymptomatic vector among the crowd. It is really unbelievable that the second to Chief Executive in the Hong Kong government would say such nonsense as the explanation on the public health policy.

Cheung's nonsense logic lies on when there is no asymptomatic carrier among the crowds then the worry on the possible virus transmission is unnecessary. However, if there is really one, Cheung seems to  prefer avoiding the infection among the people from the train but to release the patient to the public without any clue to trace his/her whereabout which will cause a much wider scale of spreading in the community.

Fallacy, especially from such a high ranking official, does undermine confidence not only from Hong Kong citizen to the Administration's governance but also that from the stake holders including foreign investors. This nonsense logic just further strengthens the justification on Moody's downgrading.

On the other hand people can't help but just wonder why these once elites now turn out to be idiots. Apparently there is nothing wrong in their brains but just in their mentality. They just tuned their gesture in-line with what the Mainland China is posing. When Cheung said the nonsense the Mainland China's related authority was still trying to tone-down the situation. These elite officials are just too smart to play safe by keeping the same tune with that from the north or even avoid the possible perception of offend perceived by the Mainland counterpart.

Amid the ever-growing integration with China, it seems the Hong Kong administration is in a kind of self-dwarfed position when dealing with their counterpart in the Mainland China. This kind of self-imposed limitation is literally a castration on the doctrine of Hong Kong People ruling Hong Kong and just showcases the deterioration on the another doctrine of One Country, Two Systems.

Deng Xiaoping once made his prophecy saying that there is possibility that the main culprit of undermining the One Country, Two Systems comes within Hong Kong. It seems his prediction really came true but sadly, Deng might has never expected that it is the Hong Kong government itself!