Why I’m staying in Hong Kong: high mobility, low crime, green spaces – and Hongkongers themselves

After 34 years at the Post, I’m taking a much-needed break, but Hong Kong will remain my home
Friends wonder why I’m not heading abroad for retirement; yet despite recent hardships, our city’s benefits – and people – remain unmatched

Peter Kammerer

Published: 6:45am, 6 Sep 2022

Why you can trust SCMP

In the age of the gig economy, I am a dinosaur. I worked continuously for this newspaper for 34 years and three months, joining at 25 and, as of this column, ceasing full-time employment with retirement. Such occasions can be turning points, but my thoughts are only of a much-needed break and exercise – for how long, I can’t tell. Of one thing there is certainty, though: Hong Kong is my home.

Friends overseas and acquaintances express surprise when I tell them I’m staying in Hong Kong. I could retire to the place of my birth, Australia, or to any of the European Union’s 27 member states.

I’ve considered a unit with ocean views on Queensland’s Gold Coast, a village house in Portugal or an inner-city flat in Munich, where my father was from. But after considering the advantages, costs and otherwise, I’ve opted to stay put for now. The reason is that the positives vastly outweigh the negatives.

To start with, let’s put the politics of Hong Kong and the rest of the nation aside. Hongkongers have never had a say in the way their government is run and their ability to influence its decisions remains limited, no matter how improved we are told the system is.

26:44

‘What needs to be done will be’: Hong Kong’s next leader John Lee | Talking Post with Yonden Lhatoo

As long as there are avenues to express views, the quality of services are satisfactory and efforts are made to upgrade, we should have no qualms. Beijing has high expectations for Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu and his team, and we have to give them time to deliver.

I’ve therefore no reason to head to the airport for political reasons, as tens of thousands of people offered the chance to emigrate to the West have done and continue to do. Many have never lived abroad and face new and uncertain futures. Some are reported to be having a hard time adapting, but others have been welcomed and are enjoying their new lives. This diversity of experiences is to be expected.

Other than Hong Kong and Australia, I’ve lived for stretches in London and Manila. Four decades of travel have taught me much about how others live and what is good and bad about their countries. There’s much more to see and I can think of no better place than Hong Kong from which to be based.

Our city’s strategic location enabling easy reach to the world’s capitals is important to its existence; Lee and his administration must never forget that, especially as it becomes ever-clearer that tough Covid-19 measures are causing more damage than benefit.

Hong Kong’s MTR system is world-class. Photo: Felix Wong

But there is more to Hong Kong than travel convenience. There are few major cities where crime rates are so low and personal safety so high. I’ve never been robbed, had my flat broken into or been assaulted. There is no risk of a subway shooting as sometimes happens in New York and for all the police claims over the years of terrorism plots, there has never been an attack.

Public transport is unmatched, telecommunications infrastructure world-class and healthcare of a good standard. But housing is expensive and sometimes poorly maintained and living space often too small. Wages are not keeping pace with the cost of living.

We are behind the rest of the developed world when it comes to environmental protection, recycling being rudimentary and wastefulness too common. We could do better with caring for the elderly and underprivileged. The government has much room for improvement and it has expectations to meet.

Some friends who have left regret their decision. They miss the country walks, ability to get numerous errands done in a day, relatively low cost of living and tax rate that is often a fraction of what they are now paying.

Hong Kong’s urban areas are bordered by country parks. Photo: Felix Wong

My son living in Paris recently had his flat burgled and his first remark when telling me was that this would not have happened in Hong Kong. Trying to deal with the French bureaucracy is also frustrating him; in comparison, the Hong Kong government is a breeze.

We each have different ideas of what retirement means. Talking to a fellow pub patron recently, I learned he had chosen a Lantau village house over Australia and Britain. A British passport-holder married to an Australian, he had decided to end his working days in Hong Kong and found the lifestyle, ease of living and most of all, the people, to his liking. Perhaps that is the biggest selling point; I also like the people.

This is Peter Kammerer’s last column for the Post – for now