Society & Politics

By Joey Hung and Thomas Chan   The number of public rental housing applications in Hong Kong has reached 285,300 in September, making the average waiting time 3.6 years for families. Executive director of the Federation of Public Housing Estates Chiu Kwok-wai said only 15 thousands new flats are built every year for public housing, and the supply will further decrease in the future. Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, Chairman of the Hong Kong Housing Authority and Secretary for Transport and Housing, said land shortage and opposition from communities have posed great challenges to building new housing estates. "If these problems are not solved, it is hard to overcome the shortage of flats," he said after a meeting with committee members of the authority on Tuesday. The Housing Authority has a target of maintaining the average waiting time at around three years.   According to the latest statistics released, the number of degree-holding applicants aged under 30 increased greatly. Students now constitute about 40 per cent of new non-elderly one-person applicants under the category for single people aged from 18 to 50. Mr Chiu said it was a 10 per cent jump from last year. Mr Chiu said under the new public scoring system implemented last year, more young people choose to act early.  Starting from February 2014, adult applicants are awarded nine points instead of three each year, while people aged 45 or above receive a one-time 60 points, which puts the young in a disadvantage.  Yeung Kwok-hei, a Hong Kong Baptist University student, said he applied for public rental housing three years ago at the age of 18, as he did not expect himself to be able to afford a private apartment any time soon. Mr Yeung said he was not worried about the prolonged waiting time and he was prepared to wait for more than 10 years.  "It will …

By Terrance Zheng   More than 1,000 doctors participated in a sit-in protest at Queen Elizabeth Hospital yesterday afternoon, calling for a 3 per cent increase in their salaries. The doctors, holding banners with the Chinese character "anger", sat in the main lobby for an hour and a half. They also conducted a moment of silence, which they said represented their unwillingness to be enslaved. The protest was triggered after the Hospital Authority refused to grant public hospital medical staff a 3 per cent pay raise, which was given to senior public servants last year.   The Authority earlier responded that civil servants' pay rise did not apply to other agencies, but the Public Doctors' Association said it had been a practice for decades that doctors' salaries were adjusted along with those of public servants. In 2009, doctors at public hospitals were told to accept a pay decrease when the public service pay was cut. "We sit here not just for the 3 per cent increase, and none of us will leave our post if our protest fails," said Dr Chan Pui-yin, President of the Hong Kong Public Doctors' Association. "We just want a justifiable evaluation system for our public doctors' payment." Dr Chan said he had been trying to negotiate with government departments for nine months before initiating this protest. Over 1,600 medical workers have signed an online petition. Some renowned doctors and medical experts came out to request the pay rise. Dr Yeung Chiu-fat, president of the Hong Kong Doctors' Union, said treating doctors' salaries with consistency laid the foundation for providing qualified medical service to the whole society. Chief Executive of the Hospital Authority Dr Leung Pak-yin told protestors he was sympathetic to their need and promised that the authority would look into the matter today. Secretary of Food and Health …

By Crystal Tse and Viola Zhou   Monday 28 September marks the one year anniversary of the 79-day Umbrella Movement's emergence. Groups and parties are hosting events to recapture the civil disobedience campaign that caught the world's attention. The movement was Hong Kong people's attempt in forcing the Beijing government to concede and overthrow the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress's "831 Decision", which gives the 1,200-member Election Committee, dominated by the pro-Beijing camp, the right to nominate Chief Executive candidates. Accusing the proposal of being a "fake universal suffrage", participants of the Movement, mostly students at the beginning, occupied the forecourt of the government headquarters that was dubbed the "Civic Square" in Admiralty. The movement intensified quickly as police deployed tear gas, which ignited thousands of citizens to take it to the streets. The occupation soon spread to Causeway Bay and Mongkok. Earlier in June this year, the Legislative Council rejected the political reform proposal with a 28-8 vote, featuring an embarrassing walked out in wait for an unpunctual lawmaker to the city's most important vote that would have allowed Hong Kongers to cast a vote in their own Chief Executive election had it been passed. As the year gone by, the big question "What's next?" -- is also a question that events around the city aim at answering. Civil Retreat Organisers and student leaders of Occupy Central will reflect on last year's movement and discuss Hong Kong political future with the public. Organiser: Hong Kong Federation of Students and Scholarism Time: September 26 1- 9 pm, September 27 1- 5.30 pm Location: Tamar Park and Legislative Council protesting area, Admiralty Anti-political-prosecution Meeting Members of several umbrella groups will stand in silence for 15 minutes beginning at 5.58 pm, the time when the police used tear gas in Admiralty …

By Jane Cheung Hong Kong lost 2-3 to Qatar in the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifier after fighting a glorious upheaval battle against the 50-world-ranking-higher team last night. Recognising the tremendous efforts by the home team, fans were thrilled to tears when the city's footballers scored two goals from nil within the last ten minutes of the match and conceded a narrow defeat. Qatar's midfielder Karim Boudiaf first whipped the ball into the back of the net with a header in the 21st minute. Abdlkarim Hassan the scored the second and the third in the 62nd and 84th minute, extending the lead to three-nil. It was not until the 87th minute did Hong Kong score the first goal with Bai He's header, which commenced the team's major counter attack. Only after two minutes, Godfred Karikari strike a second goal but never the third to salvage the match.  The Hong Kong Representative Football Team, in their home kit in red, were surrounded by a red sea of supporters present at the Mong Kok Stadium. Members of the audience chanted "We are Hong Kong" cheering for the local team. Some said it had been long since last time the team was received with full-house. The local fans in high-spirits despite the lose calling it a "glorious defeat". And the cheers and slogan spilled from the Mong Kok stadium to all over the internet.  On the popular forum HK Golden, football fans said team Hong Kong's last goal was full of zeal. The match live broadcasted by TVB's J2 also recorded the highest rating ever for the channel. "I think it's acceptable for team Hong Kong being able to score, not to mention the team's enthusiasm," one fan wrote. "It is historic that team Hong Kong managed to have two goals towards the …

  By Viola Zhou   Occupy Central students leaders pleaded not guilty to the charges of inciting and participating in an unlawful assembly during a protest last September. Scholarism convenor Mr Joshua Wong Chi-fung, former and present Secretary General of Federation of Students Mr Alex Chow Yong-kang and Mr Nathan Law Kwun-chung were charged last week over breaking into the outdoor area, called the "Civic Square" by protestors, outside the Legislative Council building on September 26 last year. The three called the thousands of pro-democracy supporters protestors, mainly youngsters, to "reclaim" the forecourt of government headquarters at Admiralty where they have been assembling since earlier on that day and more than hundred answered their call. The trio said the charges against them were not justified. "Every citizen should have the right to freely enter and exit the Civic Square," Mr Wong told reporters outside the court. "From Monday to Friday, I should go to school rather than go to court, but I do not regret." In the court, Mr Wong, named one of the most influential teens by the Time, was warned by the judge not to make political statement when he said that "citizens have rights to enter the Civic Square." Scholarism member Mr Derek Lam Shun-hin and several other participants of the break-in were charged with common assault. Pre-trial reviews are scheduled for October. About 30 protesters came to the court this morning to support the student leaders holding yellow umbrellas and chanting "civil disobedience is not a crime." Mr Wong and Mr Law were earlier charged for obstructing police during a protest outside the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government last year. Their lawyers said they will apply for the charges to be stayed.   (Edited by Crystal Tse. Copy-edited by Joey Hung.)

Doubts over young people's ability to save up mortgage deposit for a flat during five-year tenancy at hostel. LIKE many of his peers, Mr Jacky Yick Ka-ki, a 25-year-old engineer, has a modest dream of becoming a homeowner. But with a monthly salary of just $15,000, he is not optimistic that he will ever be able to save up enough money to do so as even a small flat costs several million dollars. The youth hostels that Chief Executive Mr Leung Chun-ying proposed to build would seem to have opened up more choices for affordable housing for young people, said Mr Yick. But as tenants could live in a hostel for only five years, he doubts if he would be able to save up enough to pay for the mortgage deposit for a flat during the period, he said. In his view, the Youth Hostel Scheme is just a stopgap measure as merely a small part of the population can enjoy its benefits and it was not able to address the root cause of the housing problem, which is a serious undersupply of accommodation. Aimed at helping working youth with a low income to save for the deposit of their first flats, the Youth Hostel Scheme was announced by the Chief Executive in his policy address in January. Under the scheme, four hostels providing 1,000 places will be built in Sheung Wan, Tai Po, Mong Kok and Jordan and run by non-governmental organisations on a self-financing basis. A survey conducted by the Bauhinia Foundation Research Centre in 2012 found that young couples needed to save for 14.3 years to afford the deposit of their first flat. The youth hostels are expected to relieve the housing pressure among those aged between 18 and 30 with a monthly income of between $9,000 …

Three years ago Mr Chan King-yin decided to retire. He was only 28. Having already won two gold med- als at the Asian Games and with a 3-year- old son at home, Hong Kong windsurfing champion Mr Chan decided not to train for the London Olympics. He was immediately granted two scholarships to study for an undergradu- ate degree in Physical Education and Recreation Management at Hong Kong Baptist University. Mr Chan set three goals when he was an athlete: to compete in the Olympic Games, to get married and have a happy family and to be a university graduate. Now, all three have been accomplished. Now 31, Mr Chan is a coach for the Hong Kong national windsurfing team. He hopes his team members achieve their dreams, just like he managed to do not long ago. "The life of a sportsman is rather flat. It's about training and hard work," he said. "My advice for serving athletes is to be prepared for retirement, plan- ning what should be and will be done afterwards." For young athletes still in their prime, retirement is not a far-fetched idea. Mr Angus Ng Ka-long, 20, a Hong Kong national badminton team member, said he is worried about retirement. "I think I will return to school be- cause I am not interested in coaching work," said the athlete, ranked 43 in the world. Two years ago, Mr Ng had a chance to be admitted by local universities through the Outstanding Sportsmen Recommendation Scheme. "I didn't take that path. I need to con- centrate on my training, and there is no other way but to practise hard," he said. In 2008, the Sports Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, Chi- na launched the Hong Kong Athletes Career & Education Programme. The programme, third of …

Students with special education needs struggle to learn in mainstream schools