Shades Off | Why are Hongkongers so angry? Because their baby boomer leaders are living in a parallel universe

Justice Secretary Teresa Cheng’s ironic promotion of Hong Kong as a dispute resolution centre and Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung’s shocking confession that he did not know why people are so angry are typical of the arrogance, self-entitlement and ignorance of the baby boomer leaders

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Chief Executive Carrie Lam (centre) and her team in government, including Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung (second from left) and Justice Secretary Teresa Cheng (left), attend a press conference at the government headquarters in Admiralty on October 4. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 5:00pm, 18 Nov 2019Updated: 2:19am, 19 Nov 2019

Hong Kong leaders who claim not to know what is behind the violence strafing the streets need only look in the mirror. Their arrogance, self-entitlement and ignorance are the ultimate cause.

But they are not alone, as we are seeing with their counterparts in the West, the United States’ Donald Trump, Britain’s Boris Johnson and Australia’s Scott Morrison among them.

Whatever the protesters’ demands, at the root is a struggle between baby boomers on one side and millennials and Generation Z on the other.

I am surprised that the viral social media catchphrase “OK boomer” has yet to catch on in Hong Kong.

Leaders of the baby boomer generation are the reason that Hong Kong and the world are struggling with wealth gaps, ageing societies, unaffordable housing, climate change and social welfare dilemmas like flawed pension schemes

Teenagers to those in their mid-30s are using it in a derogatory manner to reply to baby boomers, that generation born after WWII between 1946 and 1965 who are often considered out of touch or resistant to change.