TONY CHEUNG TONY.CHEUNG@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 06 September, 2015, 11:11pm
UPDATED : Monday, 07 September, 2015, 12:01am
David Akers-Jones wants a rethink on parts of the Basic Law. Photo: David Wong
Articles of Hong Kong’s mini-constitution that relate to economic and fiscal policy could be written in an “imaginative and less restrictive” way to give the government more flexibility in handling the challenges of an ageing population, a former chief secretary says.
David Akers-Jones, 88, who spent three decades in the British colonial government before stepping down in 1987, also believes the government should set up a platform to explore whether those articles of the Basic Law should be amended. Under articles 106 and 107, the government must keep its finances independent, maintain expenditure within the limits of revenue and “avoid deficits and keep the budget commensurate” with economic growth.
His comments come amid a debate sparked by Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, who said the principle of “positive non-interventionism” that had governed the city’s economic policy for decades, was outdated and should be replaced by a more “proactive” approach.
But Akers-Jones said that even during the tenure of Philip Haddon-Cave – the financial secretary who first adopted the term “positive non-interventionism” – the government was proactive in solving social problems under governor Murray MacLehose. For example, there was a 10-year public housing programme that Akers-Jones himself oversaw.
“Haddon-Cave didn’t practice what he preached, and he tied us up in knots … [But I think] in appropriate times, we have to bite the bullet” and make difficult decisions about the economy, Akers-Jones said.
Those chapters on the economy could perhaps be written in a much more imaginative way
DAVID AKERS-JONES
Referring to articles 106 and 107, he added: “This is a very restrictive section of the Basic Law … We can’t borrow money even if we need to, [as we have to] strive for a fiscal balance.”
The articles would discourage officials from making “great” policy that added to expenditure.
“I just happen to think that if the Basic Law were written today, those chapters on the economy could perhaps be written in a much more imaginative way,” he said.
Faced with projections that, by 2041, 30 per cent of the population will be over the age of 65, the government has launched several new schemes for elderly people, including the HK$8.3 billion per year Old Age Living Allowance. But government advisers warn a decline in the working population will hit tax revenue, with the city’s healthy fiscal surpluses tipped to slip into a structural deficit as soon as 2021.
“There wasn’t an elderly population in 1985 when the Basic Law was being drafted, and all kinds of things on the economy … have changed,” Akers-Jones noted.
Last month, Legislative Council president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing said the chief executive elected in 2017 should set up a platform to discuss the future of “one country, two systems” and how to restart political reform.
Akers-Jones agreed with Tsang’s idea and suggested the platform’s agenda should include the “restrictive” economic principles in the Basic Law.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1855879/hong-kongs-basic-law-could-be-more-imaginative-and-less
