What Hong Kong lacks is leadership, vision, a goal

TWENTY years after the handover from Britain to China, the fate of Hong Kong continues to be measured by a yardstick that many would find risible were it not for the raw emotion it arouses and the hardening of polarised politics.

At the heart of this feckless debate is whether Hongkongers are pro- or anti-Beijing. This banal and irrelevant discussion has seemingly derailed sensible discourse on pressing issues like the usurious price of housing, education drift, caring for the elderly, healthcare, the dismal state of exports and flagging private consumption.

The promise of the Year of the Fire Rooster appears elusive with the economy at an all-time low, barely pulling forward from the estimated 1.5 per cent GDP growth for 2016. It is time for Hong Kong to act. But where are its leaders?