Monitor | After such a long wait, policy address is bound to disappoint
Given the unrealistic expectations, Leung may well focus on areas where his actions can bring about immediate effect, such as cutting pollution
Poor old C.Y. I'm sure the chief executive had only the best intentions when he decided to postpone his first policy address from October to January. But by now, he has surely learned the folly of delay. Over those extra three months, the expectations of decisive policy action have risen to absurd heights.
Now Leung faces demands from dozens of assorted groups, who variously expect him to bring down property prices, house the poor, provide health care for the elderly, introduce universal pensions, reduce working hours, improve the city's education system and either enact or bury equal rights legislation for gays, depending on their bent.
As a result, when Leung stands up tomorrow to deliver his long-awaited policy address, he is certain to disappoint the vast majority of these supplicants.
It seems that C.Y. has decided - probably wisely - not to press ahead with legislation on standard working hours. While improving employment conditions is a worthy aim, it's doubtful whether the government should really be in the business of telling people how much they should or should not work.
It also looks as if C.Y. will duck universal pensions on the grounds, according to the , that Western countries offering state pensions have run up crippling debts.
This is a bizarre reading of the situation. Part of the reason European countries are in such trouble is precisely because they didn't plan ahead to finance their old-age welfare provisions, leaving them with huge unfunded liabilities. If there is a lesson to be learned here, it is not to ignore the topic, but to launch a viable fully funded state-backed pension scheme as soon as possible.
