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Poverty
OpinionLetters

Letters | Too much help to Hong Kong’s poor is no help at all: it’s time to end the blame game

  • The government should help those who can’t help themselves, but there must be limits
  • Excessive handouts may weaken the motivation among the impoverished to improve their lives themselves, a point missed by some NGOs

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A child walks among illegal rooftop cubicle homes in Kwun Tong, in March 2017. Hong Kong’s poor need monetary help, but also need to help themselves. Photo: Dickson Lee
Letters
I couldn’t agree more with your correspondent Anson CY Chan that excessive handouts to the underprivileged can’t eradicate poverty (“Why bigger handouts won’t break the poverty cycle in Hong Kong”, December 27).
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The government has a responsibility to help those who are powerless to help themselves. For example, disabled people who can’t work, children who can't be employed legally and old people who are too weak to work deserve help from the government. However, excessive cash handouts could discourage poor people from shouldering responsibility for their own lives, which is a point missed by many left-wing NGOs.

I do not wish to be harsh, but a recent press conference by Society for Community Organisation proves my point. At the event, children complained that our government is doing too little to close the wealth gap. It would seem that the solution to problems like child poverty is bigger cash handouts.

If I was a parent of these children, I would snatch them from the press conference and teach them that only they can change their own fate. Seeking ever bigger handouts is akin to refusing to work for a living. However, we should also discuss how irresponsible politicians and activists have weakened the will and determination of the underprivileged.

Left-wing non-governmental organisations, with their cheap sympathy, are always pinning the blame for poor people’s misfortunes on everyone else, and demanding more help from the government. However, they seem to have forgotten the importance of being self-reliant.

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