| At a recent press conference, members of the Central and Western Concern Group stressed the need to protect Hong Kong’s heritage. They lambasted the local government’s inaction, lack of transparency, obstruction of information and aversion to a real public role in sheltering heritage sites.
One member showed photos of a recent archeological excavation by the Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO) at a former Police Quarters that revealed the foundations of a Queen’s College building dating to the 1870s. Another told how a different historic building could have been saved, but government inaction allowed it to be “vandalized” by contractors. A third person showed photos of the contractors assailing the building’s front gate.
The Hong Kong government has gained a reputation for failing to set a clear heritage policy. Influenced by Beijingers and by business tycoons, the unelected administration long ago lost touch with the people at street level and with the need to salvage symbols of the past.
“All heritage properties are under a cloud,” said a group spokesman. “The government lacks credibility to deal effectively with the balance between urban development and heritage issues.”
The Concern Group urged the government to release details of its heritage policy, to make AMO a separate department with more legal powers and to release its (now secret) list of Hong Kong’s heritage properties. It wants legislation to allow conservation-heritage zones, to guide the owners of heritage properties and to harshly penalize the destruction of heritage.
Without a democratic political system to make the government accountable for its misdeeds, Hong Kong ‘leaders’ seldom listen much. When they disrespect the public’s political rights in the present, why would they cherish the past?
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On heritage issues, Hong Kong people care deeply.
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