Kinling Lo
Monday, December 28, 2015
Supporters calling for a universal pension scheme are considering holding a “public referendum” on the consultation document issued by the government on retirement protection.
Labour Party lawmaker Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung suggested this in a roundtable meeting jointly held by his party and Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Cheung said the referendum could be conducted using the same civil referendum format that Occupy Central carried out in June by commissioning the University of Hong Kong and PolyU on a selection method for universal suffrage in the 2017 chief executive election.
Cheung said a referendum would be “the most effective way to assess public opinion.”
He added: “Although it does not have a binding motion, it could still give the government pressure.”
Wong Hung, who represents a group of 180 academics who support universal pension, said his group will consider Cheung’s suggestion.
“If resources allow, I do not see why there should not be a referendum for this. Retirement protection affects everyone,” Wong said.
Estimating that holding such a referendum would cost at least HK$50,000, Wong called for donations from social organizations and the public to make it possible.
“I am confident the public would be in favor of our proposal instead of the government’s,” Wong said.
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Council of Social Service called on the government to increase the asset threshold for retirement protection to HK$1 million from the proposed HK$80,000, so that more than 80 percent of the elderly could be covered.
Its chief executive, Chua Hoi-wai, also a member of the Commission on Poverty, said: “It would cost around HK$5 billion to HK$6 billion more to include those who have assets under HK$1 million to be covered by a pension under the current government proposal. I think it is impossible for the government to say it does not have enough money, given the HK$30 billion budget giveaways it has handed out over the past nine years.”
Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung Kin-chung was surrounded by 10 League of Social Democrats members after leaving the City Forum.
He said the HK$80,000 threshold is only a simulated standard aimed at facilitating discussion and comparisons.
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