Prominent members of the Hong Kong business sector have decried universal welfare as going against Hong Kong values during a forum on retirement protection held by the Chamber of Commerce yesterday.
Addressing fellow attendees, including Chief Secretary Carrie Lam, chairman of the Chamber Stephen Ng said, “Welfare which everyone can get is not the Hong Kong spirit.”
SCMP reports that many present at the forum “lamented” that government policies (like minimum wage) had “created hardship” for local employers.
In a city where one in three elderly people lives in poverty, that seems tone-deaf, to say the least.
During discussions, businessman Dominic Yin suggested Hong Kong establish an “elderly town” across the Chinese border. Yin opined that ageing in Hong Kong is only “an option for those who can afford it”.
Another attendee reportedly said that the solution could lie in helping the elderly liquidise their assets using methods such as “reverse mortgages”.
The forum was held as part of a six-month consultation on retirement protection, which will end on June 21.
Two options have been proposed by the government: a universal welfare scheme which will provide each elderly person with HKD3,000 per month, or the government-preferred “means-tested scheme”, which would only provide an allowance to those with assets under HKD80,000.
Got a tip? Send it to us at hongkong@coconuts.co
