As Mahatma Gandhi said, “The future depends on what we do in the present.” 

I landed in Hong Kong in January 1978 on the same flight as a geotechnical engineer who had been recruited to set up, within the Hong Kong government’s Public Works Department, a section to deal with slope stabilization. The priority was Mid-Levels following the Po Shan Road collapse in 1972 and there was a moratorium on any further building in the area. Over the subsequent years, territory-wide slope stabilization has been a major enterprise for what is now the Geotechnical Engineering Office (GEO). 

The black rainstorm warning system was introduced after the deluge that caused the deaths of three men and two boys on May 8, 1992. One of the boys was playing in his flat and was drowned in the torrent of mud that poured into the premises and engulfed him. One of the other people who died was part of the rescue team.  

Previously, there had been tragedies when hillsides became saturated with water and whole slopes became unstable and careered downward, taking with them the huts and other “temporary” homes of some of Hong Kong’s most disadvantaged residents. It was the rain that caused most of the damage rather than the hurricane-force winds. The slopes became “super saturated” and the surface lost cohesion and separated, resulting in a devastating landslide. Stabilizing slopes is a major geotechnical exercise. 

The rain on Sept 8 this year was at a scale far beyond the rains that caused widespread devastation previously. It could not have been foreseen and in those past years would have caused unimaginable destruction. There would have been immediate and long-term havoc. These recent rainstorms were of an intensity never witnessed before. If the conditions had been as they were when I arrived 45 years ago, when slope stabilization was in its infancy, it is inevitable that many would have died and there would have been even greater damage.

It would be good if those who decry everything that Hong Kong does could take a moment to note the huge advances that have been made. These have continued and accelerated since 1997. It is not just slope maintenance and stabilization and the admirable work of the GEO, but also the many advances across the whole range of public services. Recent events give cause to reflect on this one aspect. We should remember the others.

Hong Kong can now be proud of its public hospital system which compares favorably with most developed economies. The major developments at Prince of Wales Hospital and Queen Mary Hospital have gone hand in hand with the advances at the medical schools at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the University of Hong Kong, both of which now attract world leaders in their fields. There is a commitment to continued improvement in the public sector. As far as private medicine is concerned, Hong Kong patients can avail themselves of the latest advances in all fields and can see the specialist of their choice within a short time span.

Hong Kong’s transport system is a world leader in terms of efficiency, reliability, cost, cleanliness and speed. All of Hong Kong is connected by an integrated system that shows the advantage of public investment working together with the private sector to produce optimum service for the community. The interconnectivity of the MTR with the metro in Shenzhen and the trunk routes in the Chinese mainland is another aspect of continuing improvement.

There are many good schools in the UK, the US, Australia and elsewhere but there are also many good schools in Hong Kong. Families that have left Hong Kong for the sake of the education offered within the state system in Britain are seemingly unaware of the problems that may befall a child who is not in the “right” catchment area. Official inspections have shown that there are many bad schools in the UK.

Recognizing the great advances in Hong Kong over the years should not be limited to criticism and comparison with others. What we are entitled to expect is some objective evaluation of what has been done that enables planning for further improvements and a better future. The inability to recognize what is good and what has improved is myopic and destructive, and until recently, pretty much the mindless preserve of a now defunct “democratic opposition”. It leads to the selfishness of wanting the government to be responsible for everything and the assumption that everything must be better elsewhere. Hong Kong’s strengths were well illustrated when those who had left under the hysteria orchestrated by Chris Patten before the 1997 handover came back in droves when the reality of post-handover Hong Kong became apparent. Many Hong Kong residents have a right of abode elsewhere but stay here by choice.  

I count myself fortunate that I came here in 1978. Hong Kong is my home and I continue to be optimistic for its future. When Murray MacLehose was Hong Kong governor, he said that the city’s greatest resource was its people; let us hope that this continues to be so and our talent pool and entrepreneurial endeavors are supported in the future by human resources from the Chinese mainland, as has been the case from the very beginning of Hong Kong.

The author is a barrister. From 1978 he was in the Legal Aid Department and headed up the Criminal, Employees Compensation and Family sections at various times. He returned to private practice in 1994.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.