Poverty relief a tough task

The Legislative Council (LegCo) Finance Committee's approval of the proposed injection of HK$15 billion in fresh funding into the Community Care Fund (CCF) is a welcome and timely move that will significantly facilitate the government's efforts to help the needy for sure. But poverty alleviation is such a tough task that it necessitates the participation and contribution of society as a whole.

Accelerated economic transformation and demographic changes witnessed in the city over the past decade, coupled with a succession of global financial crises in recent years, have bred several deep-seated problems in the city, with poverty being one that plagues many Hong Kong people.

While there has been a well-knit social safety network to protect the most vulnerable group in society, there are still many who aren't covered and are in need of relief and help, including the working poor. The setup and expansion of the CCF is therefore all the more timely.

With the government stepping up its efforts to help the underprivileged, it is only natural that society expects the business sector to contribute more - in their own ways - to poverty alleviation as a way of fulfilling their social responsibility.

But in the long run, economic development and expansion is the ultimate solution to the poverty problem. The SAR government has been moving in the right direction by prioritizing economic development, setting out packages of relevant policies and targets.

However, political bickering has been hindering policy implementation, and weakening the city's overall competitiveness by harming government efficiency, as suggested by the recently released World Competitiveness Ranking 2013.

The fact that the government's proposal for fresh capital injection into the CCF gained unanimous support from all political parties and won prompt approval in LegCo shows that policies can be adopted and implemented more easily, and things can readily be done in the city when our politicians agree to place overall interests ahead of personal political gains.

The author is a current affairs commentator.

(HK Edition 06/22/2013 page6)