Wanton politicization hurts HK talent appeal

Yang Sheng advises the city’s opposition to stop their ill-motivated political stunts for society’s well-being

In the IMD 2018 World Talent Ranking, Hong Kong slipped to 18th place from 12th last year. As usual, the chart was accompanied by a report explaining the changes from the previous edition in general terms. That means Hong Kong has to figure out itself why it had dropped six places. As far as nurturing local talents and attracting world-class researchers from around the globe is concerned, the city is, obviously, hindered by an intentional problem — wanton politicization of everything by opposition parties to serve their own interests.

It’s no secret the great majority of business entities in the special administrative region are small and medium-sized enterprises, few of which have the resources needed to run research and development programs every now and then, let alone a permanent R&D department. That’s why much of the scientific research is carried out by local universities that are funded mainly by the government with taxpayers’ money. In other words, the private sector only plays a limited role in higher education and affiliated R&D programs. Having said that, local universities have made steady and significant achievements in scientific research and innovation over the years despite various obstacles.

As a matter of fact, Hong Kong universities have provided the private sector and the rest of the world with brilliant young minds, but they would have accomplished a lot more had they not been disrupted by so many ill-motivated political movements in recent years. The worst of them had to be the illegal “Occupy Central” campaign in 2014, which drew thousands of students from their studies to a highly disruptive and, occasionally, violent display of hunger for political power disguised as a quest for universal suffrage.

The 79-day “Occupy” cost Hong Kong society hundreds of millions of dollars in economic losses in addition to waste of precious time and academic benefits for the students taking part, as well as the deprivation of economic gains for numerous businesses and individual citizens affected by huge traffic jams. Moreover, it never won enough public support to begin with, because many local residents knew, as well as the organizers did, that universal suffrage would have been achieved in the 2017 chief executive election under the Basic Law had it not been thwarted by the “Occupy Central” protests.

Apart from disturbing peace and public order in Hong Kong, political protests like the “Occupy Central” movement undermine the city’s

Apart from disturbing peace and public order in Hong Kong, political protests like the “Occupy Central” movement undermine the city’s reputation as an open and inclusive society and business-friendly community by advocating hate toward mainland compatriots and local businesses in general because they do not support their unjustifiable demands.

reputation as an open and inclusive society and business-friendly community by advocating hate toward mainland compatriots and local businesses in general because they do not support their unjustifiable demands. Such a poisonous political atmosphere, undoubtedly, alarmed many an academic interested in pursuing R&D in this town and may still adversely affect the prospects of Hong Kong’s knowledge industry. In the end, it’s the local residents, including those who harm Hong Kong society’s overall interest regularly in the name of one political fantasy or another, who pay the price of wearing off Hong Kong’s competitiveness with unproductive politics.

It should be noted that nominal charts like the IMD World Talent Rankings are not as removed from reality as some people may think. At least, the rankings actually indicate what Hong Kong lacks in achieving its development goals, beginning with the continuous supply of quality talents, both locally and from around the world, however necessary.

Fortunately Hong Kong society is enlightened enough to understand that, ultimately, it has to stop those ill-motivated political disruptions for its own good, as shown by the way it has consistently rejected separatism and other illegal causes.