Our leaders are failing to take the city’s pulse

As a long-time retiree and Hong Kong resident for more than 30 years, I cannot believe my eyes. My wife and I visit markets and venues around Hong Kong daily, and we see and feel a decline in the can-do mentality which had made our city famous.

Initiatives such as temporary homes in shipping containers, green belt land to be designated for housing and the government taking back developers’ land banks have all amounted to nothing. Instead of taking the bull by the horns and showing that this government cares about the people, it looks to Beijing to guide it out of the mess it created (“Why Hong Kong must let Beijing take on vested interests behind housing and other shortages”, May 8).

The oppression of freedom of speech, as shown by the restrictions put on RTHK, is not helping us, either. In short, as an observer, I am not impressed by the way the people in Hong Kong are represented. An even stronger feeling is that they have been abandoned.

I really would advise this government to get out and meet the people it is supposed to be representing. If they don’t start to feel the city’s pulse, who do they think they represent?

We only have 7.5 million people living in Hong Kong, we have hundreds of billions in the bank and we cannot even solve basic problems like housing, employment, education, elderly care and youth involvement.

I am only monitoring here as a citizen and feeling the city’s pulse. I am happy to do it, but this should be a government task. Unfortunately, it is failing miserably.

Peter den Hartog, Tuen Mun