Last year, in response to the bow-tied one’s pronouncements on the environment in his speech, we challenged Donald to, as the old saying goes, put up or shut up. Or in this case, put his body where his mouth is, clean up the harbour and then prove its cleanliness by swimming from Hong Kong to Kowloon.

Sadly but not unexpectedly, Donald ignored our challenge, but more importantly he seems to have suffered amnesia as well; he appears to have forgotten about his commitments to the environment. I’m not a hard-core greenie, but I don’t need to be because even an idiot can see that we need to clean up the environment we live in.

Closing your eyes, Donald, and hoping it will go away won’t work either: can’t you smell the pollution in the air, feel the crap coating the inside of your nose, lining your windpipe and filling up your lungs… Donald, wake up and smell, if you still can, the roses – it’s getting past the time when flowery words were good enough.

We need our Chief Executive to stand up and be a Chief Executive. We need him, for example, to force the transport monopolies to clean up their vehicles or have the police remove an offending bus or minibus from the road when they see it spewing foul exhaust fumes. Clamp down hard on companies and boats dumping stuff in the harbour.

If it’s not reason enough that you live here and have to endure it yourself, then think about the impression it leaves on the millions of tourists who drive large sections of our economy. Last week we had the world’s filmmakers into town for Filmart – why would they be attracted to make movies here if they can’t see the ends of their noses? This week we have the Rugby Sevens; international media and tourists from across the globe will converge on the SAR. The positive word of mouth impressions of these visitors is priceless for Hong Kong. Be the man, Donald.
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