Condemned at Birth...HK's New Cabinet!

A visitor passing through Hong Kong today and reading our media, will be forgiven if they leave with the impression that we are about to be governed for the next 5 years by an incompetent bunch of ne'er do wells who are inexperienced and unsuited for their jobs. Appointments were announced yesterday.
In keeping, it seems, with Hong Kong's fairly recently discovered "can't do" attitude, our papers today are full of negative comments on the choice of Ministers for the Labour portfolio, the Environment, the leader of the ICAC and others. Of course, given the way in which our political system works if you don't say something negative - you don't get into the media, and if you fail to reach the media your constituents might forget about you and you won't get re-elected. But even if you do get re-elected you are not going to be invited to form a Government, so you can actually say what you like for public consumption. Whether you believe it or not personally does not matter - you are never going to be called to account.
Leading the pack of naysayers, and no surprise, James Tien Pei-chun didn't seem to have much to say that was positive. I often find it hard to work out where James is coming from. As an individual I find him charming and very engaging, but he has so many differing interests (and masters it would seem!) that I sometimes wonder how well he sleeps at night, and must conclude that he doesn't always reflect his own personal views.
Hong Kong has changed in many ways over the last 30 years; forget the last 10 and all this build up to the 10th Anniversary. Yes 10 years is a milestone, but the changes in Hong Kong over that shorter period have much less to do with China and much more to do with an evolving society. We used to pride ourselves on being a city where everyone had an opportunity; where people were given a chance and where we developed our much heralded "can-do" attitude. Many things in Hong Kong have improved, but one area that hasn't is that now all we seem to do is criticise each other, and make life much harder for people to do their jobs than ever before.
Controversy over Civil Service pay aside, there seems to be general agreement (for once), on the quality of our Civil Service. With the new Cabinet line-up, and the addition of some talented outsiders, let's not condemn our new line up out of hand. Let them prove their worth. If for any reason they fail then the Cabinet Maker has to repair or replace the furniture - agreed - but let's see how functional it is first. There might be some pleasant surprises out there.