Letters | Hong Kong budget: why non-permanent residents deserve the HK$10,000 handout too

Those who have not yet achieved permanent resident status also suffered greatly during the events of the past months. Granting all Hong Kong residents the handout would be an inclusive gesture

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Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan delivers the budget speech at the Legislative Council on February 26. Photo: Reuters

Published: 7:05am, 2 Mar 2020Updated: 7:05am, 2 Mar 2020

Although I am of Spanish origin, Hong Kong is my home. From obtaining my high school diploma to studying for a Bachelor’s degree, I have spent the most crucial and beautiful years of my life in this city.

After the government announced a HK$10,000 cash handout for permanent residents above the age of 18, I have decided to speak up for thousands of people who, like me, have suffered the consequences of all the events in Hong Kong in the past few months, but who are not permanent residents and are not being compensated in any way.

This is not about money; this is about my yearning for inclusion in a society I have grown up in and lived in for many years.

University students suffered greatly during the protests last year. Our semester was cut short by a month, and most of us fretted about our safety as student residences transformed into battlegrounds. Many were forced to leave Hong Kong and return to their home countries; I suddenly found myself saying farewell to my friends without the certainty that I would see them in the near future.

Although having to sit exams online was difficult, we did so assuming that by the end of the Christmas holidays, we would all be back in our lecture halls.