Politicization, localism impeding HKSAR’s talent development
Hong Kong ranked 18th in the World Talent Ranking 2018 recently published by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD). The city’s international ranking has dropped six places from last year and has lost the top position in Asia to Singapore, which is ranked 13th globally. What are the reasons for the city’s lack of talents and its inability to retain them? The report cited high cost of living, exorbitant housing prices and insufficient investment as the key reasons. But these are just the apparent causes; the ultimate causes are the extensive politicization of almost all social and economic issues and the emergence of extreme localism in recent years. If Hong Kong continues to be trapped in ideologies such as “achieving justice by violating the law”, “civil disobedience” and exclusionism, it will not be able to turn the tables and increasingly find itself at a disadvantage compared with other regions when it comes to attracting talents.
Hong Kong’s investment in education has been growing over recent years. Nowadays local talents enjoy a much better training environment than their predecessors in the past. Conceivably, high housing costs caused by a land shortage has played a bigger part in discouraging skilled people from staying in the city.
But the biggest drag on Hong Kong’s talent pool is toxic politics, specifically the unrelenting politicization of social issues over recent years. Scrutinizing the IMD data, we can see that the city’s scores started to decline in 2015-16, which is precisely the period following the illegal “Occupy Central” movement, wherein the Mong Kok riot happened and filibusters reigned over the Legislative Council. When “achieving justice by violating the law” is used as a pretext to promote political agenda, Hong Kong has in effect turned from a peaceful society into one plagued by violence and extremism. How can the city retain talents in such an environment? Numerous reports showed that many overseas students who came to study in Hong Kong had abandoned the idea of settling in the city due to the occurrence of the “Occupy Central” movement and the Mong Kok riot.
Politicization is not only witnessed in those intermittent political movements, it is also reflected in a widespread exclusionist mentality. While the mainland supports Hong Kong’s integration into the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development and participation in the Belt and Road Initiative, members of the opposition camp keep attacking, besmirching, or even demonizing these initiatives on absurd grounds. When largescale infrastructure intended to promote connectivity among cities was launched, they received harsh criticism and opposition. Similarly, the co-location arrangement at the Western Kowloon Station of the Express Rail Link was described as “selling out Hong Kong” by the opposition camp. How can the city retain the talents from the mainland under such a toxic political environment?
As suggested by Ronny Tong Kawah, an Executive Council member, aside from the fact that commercial activities in the city have been constrained by high rental costs, professionals have also been discouraged from staying in Hong Kong by a plethora of political disputes over recent years. Wong Kam-leung, chairman of the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers, notes that politicization is spreading on university campuses. This is causing a negative impact on the quality of learning, academic research and development of talents.
Lau Siu-kai, vice-chairman of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, said that local talents who permanently reside in Hong Kong have a sense of belonging to the city and hope to have a peaceful work environment. However, he believes people are disgusted by the ever-growing political bickering perpetuated by certain political forces. They will hinder the implementation of future policies and decelerate the development of Hong Kong. Consequently, local talents may leave the city when they see a dim future for the society.
The ranking and data released by IMD actually serve as a wakeup call for Hong Kong. We must not allow politicization to dominate Hong Kong’s future. Certain candidates fielded by the opposition camp for the upcoming LegCo by-election embrace extreme localism. They still peddle politicization, try to hamper integration of Hong Kong and the mainland, engage in activities that discourage foreign talents from coming and staying, and even discredit the “Lantau Tomorrow Vision” project.
Hong Kong residents will not like to see the city lag far behind other Asian economies in talent development in the future. To prevent Hong Kong from becoming a third-tier city filled with mediocre talents, we will have to make a wise choice in the upcoming LegCo by-election.
When “achieving justice by violating the law” is used as a pretext to promote political agenda, Hong Kong has in effect turned from a peaceful society into one plagued by violence and extremism. How can the city retain talents in such an environment?