Mr. Shangkong | Hong Kong's top ranking for economic freedom feels a good laugh
Doubts are growing over the city's competitive edge as a business hub in the wake of HKTV's licence saga and the debate over new property taxes
Did the Heritage Foundation ever send its experts into the streets of Hong Kong to meet ordinary people and ask them how free the city's economy has become in recent years?
The right-wing US think tank ranked Hong Kong the world's freest economy for the 20th consecutive year last week, but many expatriates and locals in the city are taking the survey result as a bit of a joke.
There are a tonne of examples we could use to tell the Heritage Foundation the real story of Hong Kong's so-called "free economy".
The government has tightened its control on many sectors, from the old-fashioned property business to broadcasting services in the digital era.
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's stance on Hong Kong Television Network's free-to-air licence saga is a sign of how things have changed in a society that had been proud of its economic freedom for years.
In Hong Kong, Leung effectively said, the Executive Council led by the chief executive has the ultimate say on a lot of things, and we don't need to explain everything in detail to you. In other words, listen to us rather than the public or market demand.
In the property business, the interests of developers, buyers and sellers have been significantly affected by the government's new tax policies.
