The government, acknowledging a growing chorus of discontent over its heritage policy, made active strides Monday to show it is taking preservation seriously. It vowed to create more public consultation channels and to consider protecting buildings that carry a strong sense of "collective memory."The government will also appoint new members to an advisory board that will actively seek public views before any historic building is demolished.
But heritage groups and local activists remained cool to the government's new policies, saying the administration had not done enough to win back their trust after last month's debacle over the iconic Star Ferry clock tower.
Introducing the new proposals Monday, Secretary for Home Affairs Patrick Ho Chi-ping promised to take a more sensitive approach to heritage preservation.
Historic buildings "bear witness to Hong Kong people's way of life, culture, social movements and collective experience of historical events," Ho said. He asked the public to tell the government which buildings it deemed worthy of protection, while making public for the first time an internal government list of 496 buildings that were being monitored based on their age, distinctive characteristics and ties to historical events.
None of these buildings has legal protection from demolition, Ho said, but a team of professionals was reassessing a total of 1,440 sites based on a new set of "abstract" criteria that includes collective memory, historical signi
ficance and value to society.When they report by mid-year, the newly expanded heritage board will decide whether to give any of the buildings legal protection, Ho said.
Currently, only 80 buildings are "declared monuments," meaning that there are legal restrictions on their demolition and alteration.
Many of the 1,440 sites being reassessed are privately owned, however, spurring fears the owners would quickly raze the sites before the professionals finish their report.
Ho did little to dispel those fears, providing few details Monday on a promised compensation system that would pay owners any lost profit in exchange for preserving the buildings.
Ho did acknowledge, however, the government had underestimated the amount of passion over heritage preservation in Hong Kong, clearly framing the new policy changes as a response to the weeklong protests at the 49-year- old Star Ferry site last month.
The incident, which ended with images of the police forcibly removing protesters and hunger strikers, attracted heavy media coverage and criticism over the administration's apparent insensitivity to cultural heritage.
Ho said Monday Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen was "deeply touched" by those protests, adding he himself was "delighted" by the growing public awareness of conservation.
He said the government would broaden its consultation channels and review the operations of the expanded advisory body, known as the Antiquities Advisory Board.
The government will also hold several forums and focus group discussions over the next few weeks, while setting up three subcommittees to allow public participation on which sites to protect, and how.
Ho is betting the heritage protesters will cooperate in the future by venting their anger through the government's channels, including the Antiquities Advisory Board, which he called an "important partner in heritage conservation."
But he stopped short of promising the statutory board would be able to stop any unwanted demolition.
He also avoided a reporter's question about whether the government would yield if activists protested another heritage site the government had slated for demolition.
"We'll listen to their views," Ho said.
The next battleground, many observers believe, will be Queen's Pier, which is next door to the old Star Ferry site.
But Ho suggested Monday Queen's Pier was beyond saving since planning on the site had gone on for more than a decade. Stopping that work now, he said, would "not be a practical consideration."
Activists and heritage groups gave guarded praise to the government's new policy, but also expressed strong reservations over the sincerity of the administration's proposals.
Betty Ho Siu-fong, chairwoman of the Conservancy Association, said she supported the government trying to involve the public, but added: "We need them to genuinely approach the public, not just appoint members to a board."
She said the Star Ferry incident had galvanized conservationists into a powerful pressure group that would not easily be appeased.
"You could see these people's passion was very genuine, and now the government turns around and cooks this up really fast - I don't think it will stop people from complaining," she said. "The board will have to work very hard to show that they've learned their lesson, and that they want to engage the public on heritage conservation."
Christine Loh Kung-wai, chief executive of think-tank Civic Exchange, said the government's performance would be based on whether or not officials actually listened to what the public was saying.
"The government has been out of touch on culture and heritage, and the Star Ferry thing was a wake-up call, and they're trying to answer it now. That's a good thing," Loh said. "But if that feedback is being fed into a black hole, it won't do anything to stem future public discontent. These so-called public consultation processes have got to be linked to some kind of policy change.
"It's good that officials are talking about things like collective memory," Loh said. "But they have to show us the money."
