Lingle's caution welcomed

I APPLAUD Christopher Lingle's article cautioning against a Singaporean approach to governing Hong Kong.

How can we trust Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew's advice? Singapore has long wanted to be the financial centre of Southeast Asia but Hong Kong stands in its way. Hong Kong' s loss would be Singapore's gain.

Look no further than seven years ago during the height of the "brain drain" in Hong Kong when Singapore offered 50,000 permanent residence visas to Hong Kongers with a monthly salary ranging between $6000 and $10,000.

The attractive part was the grace period of five years, knowing that Hong Kong people would not leave until the deadline. So, in five years these people would have become managers.

The intent was clear. Imagine 50,000 managers in Hong Kong moved to Singapore.