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Letters

Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at letters@scmp.com or filling in this Google form. Submissions should not exceed 400 words.
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has said Hong Kong’s first five-year plan will preserve capitalism while creating jobs and opportunities for social mobility (“Hong Kong 5-year plan to stick with capitalism, uphold ‘one country, two systems’: John Lee”, September 14).
The Northern Metropolis will be an important test, but not simply of whether government initiative can coexist with a capitalist economy. That proposition has become something of a cliché. Every successful market economy depends on public infrastructure, reliable institutions and long-term planning.
The Northern Metropolis requires coordinated investment in land formation, transport, drainage, schools, healthcare, housing and environmental work that no individual company could reasonably undertake. The meaningful question is therefore not whether government should intervene, but whether its intervention enlarges the space for competition, investment and enterprise.
The project should also be assessed against the correct time horizon. Large expenditure may produce immediate activity through construction contracts, employment and land transactions, but these are preliminary effects rather than the return Hong Kong should ultimately seek. The lasting return must come from higher productivity, new business formation, stronger connections with neighbouring markets and an urban environment capable of adapting as industries change.
That return may take years to emerge. A long horizon, however, should not mean an absence of discipline: the government should publish milestones on costs, private investment, business occupancy and economic output so that the strategy can evolve with evidence.
Most importantly, promises of jobs and upward mobility need a practical road map. Announcing employment targets is not enough. The government should identify the types of industries the Northern Metropolis is intended to support, the skills those industries will require and how residents can acquire them. Plans for vocational training, university partnerships, affordable housing and transport should be aligned with the arrival of employers. Small businesses and new entrants must also have genuine access to premises, procurement and financing, rather than opportunities being concentrated among established corporations.
Preserving capitalism while pursuing government-led development should be the starting premise, not the final achievement. The real measure of the Northern Metropolis’ success will be whether public investment creates productive capacity that endures after the initial spending subsides – and whether that capacity gives ordinary people credible routes into better work, higher incomes and social advancement. Only then can the project become a source of sustained advantage for Hong Kong rather than merely another ambitious development programme.
Martin Cheung Tat-ming, principal researcher, POD Research Institute
Malaysia offers lessons in protecting diversity
Malaysia Day offers more than a routine nod to history. It presents a timely case study for an Asia increasingly fractured by political polarisation, identity politics and economic anxiety: how can diverse, multi-ethnic societies build a common future without losing their distinct local identities?
More than six decades after the Malaysian federation was formed, national cohesion across the region can no longer be taken for granted. In an era dominated by online echo chambers and divisive rhetoric, social harmony must be actively cultivated rather than passively assumed.
Malaysia’s trajectory offers instructive lessons. Despite deep ethnic, religious and regional fault lines, the nation has maintained fundamental stability. Navigating the delicate relationship between peninsular Malaysia and the Bornean states of Sabah and Sarawak underscores that physical separation across the South China Sea need not dictate social or political division.
While macro-level ties in trade, investment and infrastructure create the structural foundation for this federal unity, higher education provides the vital human connective tissue. Economic policies alone cannot overcome geographical isolation; meaningful interaction must bring together individuals who would otherwise inhabit parallel social worlds.
As an academic, I observe daily how deliberate collaborative spaces allow young people to dismantle entrenched stereotypes. The practical value of this approach was recently demonstrated through Heriot-Watt University Malaysia’s EmPower programme. Student teams from peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak came together to tackle real-world community issues, partnering with 12 local charities and raising nearly 137,300 Malaysian ringgits (US$33,850) for initiatives tied to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The ultimate value lay beyond the money raised. Working side by side on tangible social challenges forced these young adults to navigate regional perspectives, confront implicit biases and build lasting mutual trust. It proved that a shared civic identity is built through action, not passive coexistence.
Top-down government frameworks can establish political structures, but they cannot manufacture trust. As division increasingly commands global headlines, Malaysia Day serves as a reminder that national unity is not a static milestone but an ongoing project. Malaysia’s primary asset lies not merely in the richness of its diversity but in its sustained, everyday capacity to hold that diversity together.
Dr Lee J. Peter, assistant professor, Heriot-Watt University Malaysia


Hong Kong’s 5-year plan, policy continuity offer investors more stability, experts say

Hong Kong sets 5-year plan to double innovation spending, boost new industries

First building in Hong Kong’s university town project to be ready in months

10 AI, biotech firms in Northern Metropolis to get early cross-border data access

Northern Metropolis

How Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis should be judged

An aerial view of the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park in the Northern Metropolis on September 14. Photo: Karma Lo

Hong Kong must plan for the population it wants to have

Pedestrians in Central, Hong Kong, on August 15, 2025. Photo: Jelly Tse

Hong Kong’s next policy address is just around the corner. Here’s what to expect

Observers are watching closely to gauge where the last policy address of John Lee’s current term and the city’s first five-year plan will take Hong Kong. Photo: Karma Lo

Screengrab of a social media video showing Chief Executive John Lee sporting a green tie and a lapel pin. The latter has the Chinese characters “one” and “five”, representing the city’s first five-year plan. Source: Facebook/John KC Lee

A Galbot Store operates at the New Hung Hom Harbourfront. Authorities hope to introduce the use of robots to communities, a source has said. Photo: Karma Lo

What’s a Northern Metropolis-like project doing in Malaysia? Lessons for Hong Kong?

 Illustration: Kaliz Lee

The JS-SEZ includes the Rapid Transit System Link, which is designed to slash travel times and cement cross-strait integration. Photo: Reuters

The Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park is part of the Northern Metropolis megaproject. Photo: Edmond So

Engineer and former technology minister Alfred Sit says more sophisticated technical expertise is required if Hong Kong hopes to address its project talent shortfall. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Softer focus on national security in Hong Kong’s 5-year plan? Why it won’t happen

 Credit: Brian Wang

Pressure is mounting on the leader to deliver on the Northern Metropolis near the Shenzhen border. Photo: Edmond So

The blaze that tore through the Wang Fuk Court housing estate last November killed 168 people and displacing about 5,000 residents. Photo: Eugene Lee

A student walks past a banner stating “National security is everyone’s responsibility”. Photo: Jelly Tse

Warming cities can’t afford to sacrifice their urban parks

Illustration: Huy Truong

The morning sun filters through the trees at Cubbon Park in Bengaluru. The park and its neighbouring Lalbagh Botanical Garden are under threat from legislation that could see part of their space taken by the government for infrastructure projects. Photo: Shutterstock

Attendees at a rally at Hong Lim Park in Singapore on August 16 protest against redevelopment plans affecting the Maju forest and the greenery around Gillman Barracks. Photo: Reuters

People pass through Xiangyang Park near the bustling Huaihai Road in Shanghai. Photo: Shutterstock

Opinion

Readers discuss the mega-project being developed at the city’s northern border, and how Asian nations can ensure diversity thrives


Readers discuss the mega-project being developed at the city’s northern border, and how Asian nations can ensure diversity thrives.


Hong Kong

Hong Kong economy

Malaysia

China

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Readers discuss the mega-project being developed at the city’s northern border, and how Asian nations can ensure diversity thrives

Readers discuss the mega-project being developed at the city’s northern border, and how Asian nations can ensure diversity thrives