Chicken or the Egg?

Following on from my last post concerning economic over political reform, i'm sorry to say that the government is back at it and is, if you bother to look at the situation at all, tarring this city's reputation as one of the freest economies in the world - way to go guys, probably the only good thing we had going for us, and now you're managing to screw the pooch! way. to. go.

The situation is this:

Bird Flu is bad - not much argument there.Chickens have bird flu - again, pretty straight forwards. The Government introduced measures to guard against bird flu.

The initial measures against bird flu were pretty reasonable, and didn't cause major issues. Things like cross border screenings of live poultry, random testing at wet markets, and the imposition of higher hygiene standards (both at poultry farms and wet markets) on chicken sellers. Like i said, pretty straight forwards and normal.

Then a week ago a chicken was found at a wet market that was infected with the H5N1 virus. So the market was closed, chickens culled, and trading suspended. The government also imposed a requirement that will see all live chickens which haven't been sold by the end of a trading day slaughtered and disposed.

It is important to note that the government started voicing its idea to buy out the poultry industry quite a while ago, something which the community of poultry sellers has been seriously opposed to. And with the institution of this 'end of day disposal' regulation, the administration has been growing ever more vocal in its attempt to publicize the industry. Now call me a skeptic, or a conspiracy theorist, but an isolated case of H5N1 in one or two birds should not warrant the disposal of all chickens at all poultry markets in Hong Kong. Especially not, as we have been lead to believe, if the government is actually doing its job when it comes to H5N1 prevention and treatment.

No, this is a case of the government trying to keep all negativity about hong kong to a minimum by taking control of the industry and imposing ridiculous requirements on sellers - essentially forcing them to capitulate to administration demands of a buy out. By forcing traders to kill all excess stock at the end of the day the government is making sure that it is not feasible for these individuals to continue on with their livelihood. By offering HK$ 180,000 to each license holder the government hopes to make it seem like they are playing nice, however this sum is less than one years salary, never mind the fact that it in no way represents future earning, loss of trade, and the need for all individuals involved in the industry to find new jobs.

If the government were truly concerned about the H5N1 issue, and this city's reputation as a free economy, then they wouldn't try to bully traders out of the industry but would pay more attention to screening, prevention, and protection. Isn't that the exact reason that we have bloated, and essentially useless, government departments like the Food and Environmental Hygiene department or the Agriculture and Fisheries department? Wouldn't prevention and screening fall within the scope of their duties?

Instead of spending extortionate amounts of money on destroying historical buildings, or extending the provisions associated with the anti-smoking bill (thanks Anthony Hedley - did i mention that i'm not bitter at all about your excessive pinko liberal tree hugging ideals?), which I'll expand on in a bit, maybe its time for them to do what they are already provisioned to accomplish. Spend money on departments that actually have legitimate business to accomplish seems like a much better way to protect the interests of the city, rather than proposing a farcical buyout scheme.

Ah the smoking bill, that piece of legislation that was brought into reality by morons, has now been expanded to include a $1,500 on the spot fine for any smoker caught lighting up in a public place. By public, the government means any place under the bill where smoking is clearly illegal - so parks, stairwells, restaurants etc. Fine, fair dues - we have due process in HK, and the law was passed so its up to the smokers to deal with it, we may not be happy about it, but we will deal. My issue with this bit of news, which was given approximately 25 seconds on ATV's news at 7:30, and was buried so deep in the standard that you probably missed it, is with the way that they are set to enforce the new fines.

Lets take a look at the departments that are set to get in on the new fines: Leisure and Cultural Services, Food and Environmental Hygiene, Housing, and the Office of Tobacco Control. according to York Chow, our esteemed Secretary for Health Welfare and Food, there will be approximately 3000 officers who are responsible for enforcing this anti-smoking bill. Lets think about this for a second. This is a bill that is designed to prevent smokers from participating in a LEGAL activity in public. This is not about crime (of course not, we don't have crime in Hong Kong, not if the bone idle police department has anything to say about), but rather is about a group of individuals who are opposed to the act of smoking imposing their will on the larger population.

Instead of ramming massive amounts of funding to support this semi retarded law, wouldn't public funds be better used in preventing bird flu?!!! Its painfully obvious - at least to everyone who isn't in public office in HK. In addition to this, tax payer money is being used to fight the court battle that the poultry industry has brought against the government in regards to end of the day chicken killing. You really have to ask yourself, what are the priorities here, why are we so concerned about stopping people doing unhealthy habits, which they have all the information about and are legal, rather than preventing a major public health risk.

Instead of being pig headed and stubborn, spend the money that you are using on some of the most absurd 'public projects' ever on something that makes sense.

Sometimes i wonder if this city isn't being run by a bunch of semi retarded poo flinging two year old spastic monkeys. WTF......