****************************************************
Following is the speech by the Financial Secretary, Mr John C Tsang, at London Business School and other Ivy League Business Schools in Hong Kong today (December 18):
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Good evening.
It is, indeed, a great privilege for me to be asked to share with such a distinguished audience something so inspiring as one's dream for the future of this wonderful city of ours. Contrary to common belief, as Financial Secretary, I don't only dream about raising taxes. In fact, I'd much rather dream about reducing taxes. I know you must be rather curious about that, but how exactly would that particular dream turn out, you'll have to wait until my Budget Speech in February!
The title of today's topic is "Three Architects – One Dream: Building a New Hong Kong." My compliments to whoever thought of that. At least we're not being called One Architect and Three Dreamers. But seriously, it's a great topic, and a great time to discuss it too. For Hong Kong to stay ahead of the game, there's not a better time to talk about how we can take our city down new and imaginative roads.
The most memorable dream speech of all times has to be Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech in Washington D.C. at the height of the civil rights movement. He was a true leader, inspiring, selfless and passionate. But he was also practical. He knew his dream would be meaningless if it could not turn into something practical. All his life in everything that he did, he set about building the foundation stones for his dream to come true, to become reality, one stone at a time.
For us here, the dream of building a new Hong Kong should be a big dream, an all encompassing dream. We have long gone past the time when this was a borrowed place on borrowed time. It is our place here and our time now. We must have a broad enough vision to build a new Hong Kong in a way that recognises its strengths, its shortcomings and its place in the global economy.
Our approaches may vary, and details of our dreams may differ, but I am sure we all share a similar vision for Hong Kong. We want Hong Kong to be financially vibrant, politically stable, globally competitive, of mutual benefit to the Mainland, a livable city with a clean and green environment, and a safe, fair, harmonious, caring and corruption-free society where people can go about generating wealth and getting on with their lives with minimal government interference.
It's not that we haven't achieved any of those things. I can safely say we enjoy many of the pre-requisites of a successful city, but we cannot afford to stand still. And to keep moving, we need a roadmap.
That roadmap can be found in the Chief Executive's election manifesto that was fleshed out into actual policies in his October address. And the word that stands out in the Government's roadmap is pragmatism – an essential ingredient for any policy roadmap. Visions and ideals are fine, and we do need them, but they become rather meaningless if they are not realisable.
So my dream for building a new Hong Kong is a practical one, rather than just pie in the sky. It's a multi-faceted dream with different sequences that are inter-linked and dependent on each other. It starts with a strong economy that is made even stronger with greater integration with the Mainland. From there, the dream flows seamlessly into sequences of a vibrant city with sound infrastructure, a community which marches in lockstep towards realistic democratic development, and a society that insists on compassion, fairness, and all the things that make a city livable and the envy of others.
Certainly, these are ideals, yes, but they are achievable ideals too, if we set about achieving them in a visionary yet practical way. To do that we must all row the boat in unison. If we were to squabble, and some were to row in different directions, it would slow us down, or worse still, we'll never get to where we want to go.
A certain measure of controversy and confrontation is inevitable in a free and open society. There will be those trying to shoot for the moon but never reaching it, those who are in a hurry to realise ideals, those whose visions are impossible dreams of Don Quixote proportions, and those who want us all to march to the drumbeat of false hopes. And more.
The challenge is to find consensus. I believe Hong Kong people can measure up to any challenge. We saw an example of that in the recent District Council elections when pragmatism prevailed. Given the choice of political idealism over everyday grassroots issues, the electorate chose the latter.
Don't get me wrong. I am not saying we should not be idealistic about our politics. We should be, but in a clear-headed and rational way. Our idealism should come with a rider – that we expect our political class to be selfless, to be totally committed and to be willing to work together towards a common vision in a professional and pragmatic manner.
We should demand dedication from our political class, expect our politicians to think on the same wavelength as the people, require them to inspire and to passionately lead us towards goals that are shared by us all as a community.
What we do not want is division, theatrics, and self-serving agendas that disrupt the rhythm of a forward-moving community. We simply cannot afford that, for while we bicker among ourselves, our competitors will be passing us by as they march ahead. It's an increasingly competitive world out there, and for Hong Kong to win in such a world we must all be on the same side.
As you may be aware, I studied architecture in college. Some people may stereotype me as someone who is more comfortable with bricks and mortar, buildings and bridges – practical stuff like that – rather than with ideals. Some of you may well wonder how an architect can possibly make the great leap forward to having the "vision thing" as the senior George Bush once called it. He was asked why he had no longer-term objectives, to which he dismissively replied: "Oh, the vision thing." I think his son uses similar vocabulary!
But seriously, architects too are capable of vision. In fact, architecture school training allows us to look at vision from a different angle. We look at empty space that is confined within physical boundaries, and we go on to create reality to fill that space. It requires foresight, imagination, innovation and a measure of boldness. But most importantly, it requires recognising what is possible and what is not.
The architect visualises not only what to create but how to set trends, shape a city's character and define its identity. That requires letting your imagination flow but knowing also when to pull back so you don't get lost in it.
That is the Hong Kong of the future I want to see – a bold and innovative community that is outside the box but is mindful of risks, a community that is thankful for past achievements but thrives on new ones, but most importantly, a community that knows where to draw the line between runaway vision and reality.
Now I think I should stop in case I stop dreaming, and put on both my hats as Financial Secretary and an architect to design a big box to capture your tax dollars!
Thank you for listening.
Ends/Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Issued at HKT 21:03
NNNN
