Wednesday, November 28, 2018 7

COMMENT CHINA DAILY HONG KONG EDITION

TO THE POINT By-election results to have STAFF WRITER signifi cant implications Genome summit a tech window for HK Chief Executive billion according to the fi rst personal information, privacy, Cheng Yuet-ngor reiterated the two Policy Addresses of Carrie strict compliance to all ethi- Discussing the consequences of Sunday’s poll, Zhou Bajun special administrative region Lam, who took o ce in July cal standards, requirements government’s commitment last year. Apart from funding as prescribed in relevant laws concludes that it is vital for Hong Kong to build social to innovation and technology inno-tech developments, the and technical regulations. development and nurturing SAR government also plans Since HGE-related legislation consensus based on preserving the nation’s political system talents in Hong Kong in her to introduce policy measures is a work in progress around speech at the opening ceremo- designed to improve Hong the world, Hong Kong must n the Sunday Legislative nation’s political system. ny of the second International Kong’s ability to nurture local prove it is capable of setting Council Kowloon West On Nov 12, or 13 days before the Summit on Human Genome talents and engaging talents an excellent example in this geographical constituency Sunday by-election, President Xi Editing (HGE) on Tuesday. She from around the world as well. respect. Given its experience in by-election, former politi- Jinping met with delegates from also noted that biomedicine In terms of developing biomed- maintaining rule of law, Hong cal assistant for the Food Hong Kong and Macao, who visited is one of the main focuses icine the city defi nitely enjoys Kong has every reason to do and Health Bureau and Beijing to celebrate the 40th anni- for research institutions in some advantages other cities just as well as the best of them candidate from the pro- Zhou Bajun versary of the country’s reform and Hong Kong. This is one of the may not have, such as support elsewhere. The author is a senior research fel- establishment camp, Rebecca Chan opening-up. He said Hong Kong reasons why the city attaches from the central government Speaking of the law, the low of China Everbright Holdings. IHoi-yan, received a total of 106,457 and Macao had been incorporated great importance to hosting as well as the SAR government International Summit on votes, beating opposition candidates into the country’s governance sys- the HGE summit this year. It and supply of precious data for Human Genome Editing is a Lee Cheuk-yan and tem after the SARs returned to the will open a window for Hong pinpoint research. good opportunity for the SAR Kin-kee. The fact that Chan motherland; people in Hong Kong Kong on the latest develop- On top of funding, informa- government as well as Hong This by-election is an expression has been elected and Macao should, in accordance ment in HGE research and all tion and policy support, Hong Kong’s academic community of political rivalry that carries much means that the with the requirements set out in the matters concerning its devel- Kong is particularly proud to tap into the minds of those signifi cance. “one country, two systems” policy, opment within the confi nes of of its e ective rule of law, attending the academic gath- Firstly, if either Lee or Fung pro-establishment strive to optimize the institutions relevant laws. which is crucial to the healthy ering over the establishment was elected, the opposition camp camp keeps the and mechanisms required for the Hong Kong is determined to development and success of of legal boundaries as well as could, through the geographical implementation of the nation’s Con- become a center of inno-tech the inno-tech sector. As far as e ective supervision and regu- constituencies in the split voting majority of seats stitution and the Basic Laws; and development not only in the biomedicine is concerned, its lation on biomedical research system, thwart any attempts by the in both functional enhance the level of governance in country but also the world in development would be crip- and development to facilitate pro-establishment camp to further the SARs. Xi also urged people in the years to come. To do so, pled from the start without a our own e orts in related leg- amend the Rules of Procedure of and geographi- the two SARs to care for the overall the SAR government has ear- mature legal system to ensure islation and law enforcement LegCo, so they can continue to cause cal constituencies development of the country, help marked HK$78 billion or $10 e ective protection of related in future. trouble in the legislature. The fact safeguard the nation’s political that Chan has been elected means and is capable of system and national security, and that the pro-establishment camp further optimizing actively participate in the nation’s keeps the majority of seats in both development in various aspects. functional and geographical con- the Rules of Proce- In March, the 13th National stituencies and is capable of further dure... People’s Congress amended the Con- More opportunities will allow optimizing the Rules of Procedure, stitution, categorically stipulating a move that will facilitate the chief that “The defi ning feature of social- executive and SAR government’s Thirdly, the opposition camp ism with Chinese characteristics is women to benefi t IT industry administration and policy imple- and Lee in particular were quite the leadership of the Communist mentation. optimistic about their victory prior Party of China.” At that time, the pro- he University of Califor- organized a competition on the Secondly, this is the second vic- to the election, assuming that the establishment camp suggested that nia, Berkeley, was named theme of Smart Property. I was tory of the pro-establishment camp middle class and young people are “upholding the country’s political the best public university one of the judges at the event. in a one-to-one rivalry following the their major supporters. The results system” should be set as a necessary by Forbes, the fi nancial Participants had to develop pro- March 11 Kowloon West by-election of the election showed that among condition for candidates participat- Tmagazine. Janet Napolitano, gram on either Smart Living or where Vincent Cheng Wing-shun these two groups, Lee received fewer ing in future LegCo elections or president of the University of Cal- Winnie Tang Smart Property Management. The defeated the opposition candidate votes than what Yiu obtained eight by-elections. Therefore, anyone ifornia, recently wrote an article The author is an honorary profes- competition brought together Edward Yiu Chung-yim. Although months ago. advocating an end to “one-party on female education. She pointed sor at the Department of Computer more than 100 programmers and it is encouraging to see the pro- Fourthly, Yiu thought that the rule” should not be allowed to run out that although more women Science, participants from Hong Kong, establishment camp win the March disqualifi cation of his LegCo mem- for LegCo. have obtained college degrees in and other cities of the Greater Bay 11 by-election, it does not suggest the bership could earn sympathy votes Because the relevant local laws recent years, their incomes only Area, Southeast Asia, the Middle political environment in Hong Kong from a substantial part of the elec- have yet to be amended in accor- match that of male associate This year’s Policy East, Europe and the United has seen any signifi cant change. The torate. However, the results turned dance with the National People’s degree graduates, even though States. victory on Sunday, however, is solid out to be quite di erent from what Congress Standing Committee’s the United States had legislation Address also pro- The champion team targeted proof of the changing political land- he had wished, which demonstrated interpretation of Article 104 of the such as the Equal Pay Act as early pet owners. They used Internet of scape. In particular, considering the that a lot of voters acknowledged Basic Law, Lee was able to partici- as 1963. The gender pay gap has posed a City I&T Things technology and designed fact that both Chan and Lee were that the disqualifi cation of radical pate in the LegCo by-election. Never- only narrowed, on average, by Grand Challenge, a bluetooth strap for dogs, so pet “parachuted” into Kowloon West to localists by the judiciary was meant theless, the fact that he has lost the less than half a cent per year over owners could locate a bluetooth contest the November by-election, to safeguard “one country, two sys- majority voters’ mandate shows that the past 55 years. From these we with a fi ve-year dog toilet on the street via mobile whereas Vincent Cheng was a mem- tems” and the Basic Law. The defeat a public consensus to safeguard the can infer that equal pay for equal phones, to help facilitate walking ber of a local district council when in the latest by-election of Lee, who nation’s political system is gaining work between the two genders target of granting dogs. The whole process is envi- he defeated “parachuted candidate” is a core member of the Hong Kong ground in the SAR. could only be realized by 2059! HK$500 million. ronmentally friendly as the device Edward Yiu, and the fact that Fred- Alliance in Support of Patriotic Dem- Resisting “self-determination” Having said that, with a global uses solar power, and the waste erick Fung merely obtained 12,509 ocratic Movements of China that and Hong Kong independence is push to promote a new economy, The scale of sci- bag is made of decomposable votes in a constituency where he has constantly calls for an end to “one- the red line for safeguarding “one information technology practitio- ence and technol- materials. What’s more, a graphi- been active for a long time, all these party rule”, indicates that a lot of country, two systems” and the Basic ners have become particularly in cal dashboard is used together imply that the rivalry between Chan voters understand that Hong Kong, Law. To ensure that “one country, demand. Therefore, the gender ogy competition is with a map to provide major and Lee has gone beyond Kowloon a special administrative region gov- two systems” is implemented in pay gap in the STEM (science, information, such as location West, and that there has been a fun- erned under the “one country, two exactly the way prescribed by the technology, engineering, math- unprecedented. I of dog parks and the remaining damental shift in the relative politi- systems” policy and the Basic Law, Basic Law, it is imperative that the ematics) industry is “only” 14 wonder if the gov- capacity of dog toilets, which is cal status of the pro-establishment must not only stop the advocacy of Hong Kong SAR builds a social percent which is signifi cantly very handy for the users. camp and the opposition camp in “self-determination” and Hong Kong consensus based on preserving the smaller than in other professions ernment can set up It is gratifying to witness the the local political landscape. independence but also uphold the nation’s political system. with a pay gap of over 20 percent intelligence of young people. in general. The US Department of a women’s group to However, about one-third of par- Commerce also pointed out that encourage girls to ticipants in the competition were women in the STEM industry are girls, and even this participation 33 percent more likely to be better participate in the rate is already higher than the paid than women in other indus- percentage of women in the IT Editor’s note: China Daily tries. Therefore, from the perspec- activity as well. industry in Hong Kong (17 per- Hong Kong Edition has tive of personal development, cent). I cannot help wondering launched a photo-sharing girls have brighter prospects by if the above winning ideas were campaign on Instagram. joining the IT fi eld. opportunities to let women exhib- created from a female perspec- You can share your photos In addition, from the corpora- it their strengths in IT industry. tive. If so, it would even be more by tagging #hk24hr, and tion’s perspective, women’s par- I think the programming design attractive. we’ll choose the best ones to ticipation, especially in manage- marathon, also known as a “hack- This year’s Policy Address also publish in the newspaper. ment, has proved to be benefi cial athon”, which is popular in recent proposed a City I&T Grand Chal- to companies as confi rmed by two years, is a good opportunity. lenge, with a fi ve-year target of di erent studies. Hackathon refers to competi- granting HK$500 million. The According to a survey of over tion between groups of people scale of science and technology 1,000 companies in 12 countries with di erent expertise collabo- competition is unprecedented. I by McKinsey, a consulting fi rm, rating to write a program within wonder if the government can set this year, and according to Dow a short period of time (mostly up a women’s group to encourage Jones analysis based on informa- 24 hours). The groups usually girls to participate in the activity tion of the past 15 years, compa- comprise computer software engi- as well. nies and startups with females neers with di erent skills, such as I have been encouraging girls to Every in leadership roles have higher program design, graphic design, learn programming and work in short-term and long-term profi ts. and user interface design. Com- STEM- related professions. I hope minute I believe this is because a suc- petitions may also recruit people their numbers will grow and add cessful corporation needs not just from other disciplines, such as value to themselves, thus, increas- counts hard power, but also soft skills for sales and marketing, architec- ing the talent resources of smart which women’s detailed minds, tural design, urban planning, etc. citizens in Hong Kong. If more A girl reads a book instead good communication skills and Women have a chance to dem- empathetic people can make of killing time with her mobile phone while waiting empathy are important elements. onstrate their abilities in such an good use of, manage, and develop for her bus at Sheung Shui The question, though, is wheth- open environment. innovative technologies, we can bus terminal. @THCOSWARD/ er the society can provide enough For example, in October, a local construct our smart city in a more INSTAGRAM training, encouragement and telecommunication operator expeditious manner!