Hong Kong’s Palace Museum plan throws out the rulebook to put politics above the people

Dennis Kwok says the surprise announcement of a local version of Beijing’s heritage museum displays a blatant disregard for established procedure and public opinion that goes against Hong Kong’s core values

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Commuters on the walkway between the Central and Hong Kong MTR stations pass giant posters advertising the local Palace Museum project, on January 10. The posters, part of a HK$1.58 million “exhibition”, sparked a demonstration the previous day by pro-democracy protesters who said they were reminiscent of the June 1989 crackdown on students at Tiananmen Square. Photo: EPA

Published: 11:54am, 13 Jan 2017Updated: 8:12pm, 13 Jan 2017

With no public consultation, no competitive bids and zero transparency, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor declared that a 10,000 square metre museum would be built at the West Kowloon arts hub, to display relics from Beijing’s Palace Museum in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover. Her sudden announcement last month took the public by surprise and has drawn widespread criticism.

At the centre of the controversy is the complete lack of public consultation on the project. Rather than taking the usual route, where the administration makes a proposal that is then opened up to public scrutiny, this project was unilaterally decided and set in stone – save for minute details.

Such a blatant disregard and neglect of public opinion and the governance framework itself is simply unacceptable.

Carrie Lam addresses a press conference to start the public consultation process for the Hong Kong Palace Museum on January 10. Photo: AFP

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And while the administration now claims that a six-week public engagement will ensue, the so-called consultation concerns only the museum’s design, exhibitions and operation, rather than asking the all-important question: whether the museum itself should even be built in the first place.

As my colleagues have pointed out in Legislative Council meetings, section 19 of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority Ordinance (Chapter 601) requires the authority to “consult the public” when dealing with “matters concerning the development or operation of arts and cultural facilities, related facilities, ancillary facilities and any other matters as the authority considers fit”. It is unclear on what legal basis Lam can exempt herself and this project from the provision.

Rather than being funded by the government, as public work projects usually are, the museum will have the Jockey Club acting as sole financier, providing as much as HK$3.5 billion for the entire construction.

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Despite the government’s denial, it is not difficult to deduce that the seeking of funding from the Jockey Club was a deliberate act to bypass the need to obtain legislative approval.