This evening, there are much fewer cars coming and going. Even more telling, very few people are in the buses. Very few people are getting off buses, or waiting for buses at the bus stops.
It is, of course, mainly because of the social distancing caused by the corona virus. But if you listen to the people talking, it is much more alarming than that. Many people are talking about emigrating, leaving Hong Kong, for good. Most profess to continue to love Hong Kong, but despair of the scary and even suffocating political situation.
When the government officials come our to make announcements, many people, well educated and normally calm and collected, breaks out into curses and angry words. The government, obviously, has lost all credibility with many of the citizens. They have demonstrated, again and again, that they are arrogant, disconnected with the reality of life in the street, negligent with their duties to ensure public safety.
Worse yet. Some of them have demonstrated cowardice, others ignorance, vengefulness, hatred towards young people, or corruption. Just when the people need someone whom they can trust to lead the fight agains the virus, they cannot trust the government officials to do so.
Let me make a proposal here. Let the government step away from the podium. Let the doctors and scientists take the leadership in the fight against the virus. This way, at least the people can trust that the decisions are not made for political expediency. The people have to rally around someone. Most people, obviously, find it difficult to rally around government officials that they do not trust, nor respect. There is a general feeling, based on past and current performance, that the doctors and scientists can be trusted to be objective, knowledgeable, and relatively free of political motivations. Let them help us rebuild trust in our public institutions.
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