Ada Wong was the outspoken District Councilor from Wan Chai until she stepped down at the end of 2007. She talks to June Ng about the government, sustainable development, and how Hong Kong’s political scene is but an elaborate stage show.

I’m 48 years old. I’ve spent 13 years in the Urban Council and later the District Council. It’s time to change my role.

People shouldn’t stay in the same place for too long because they will start to lose their drive.

I regard myself as a hardworking person because I’ve been doing several jobs at the same time.

My father set up his own law firm. It was just him and a secretary. He would always carry his files home with him, even on holidays. If there’s one thing I learned from him, it’s the value of hard work.

As a frontline District Councilor, you spend almost all of your time in meetings, questioning government officials. But the District Council has no power. It’s an advisory body.

We make suggestions. But even when you make suggestions, if it can’t be changed, it will not be changed. That’s it. It’s all up to the government.

As bureaucracy grows, nobody knows who’s doing what anymore.

If the government were a person, he’d definitely have a coordination problem. The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. The brain can’t coordinate the limbs, so the limbs start to develop their own consciousness. A tough and very independent one, at that. 

To fix it, you’ll need a leader with a strong will.

It’s hard to change a person’s mindset. We have so many “veteran” government officials who think the only way to invite the new is to get rid of the old. If they’re still at the top of the government, it remains difficult to promote the concept of sustainable development.

Hong Kong people are reaping what we've sowed. For decades, Hong Kong has been treated as the golden goose that lays golden eggs. Nobody cared about the pollution, and now it's become really bad.

We have a fast food culture. In town planning you need to have a strategy. But in Hong Kong, we just demolish everything, and then build buildings as high as possible. You can thank the Urban Renewal Authority for that.

I feel sorry for Lee Tung Street. It died at the wrong time. But I do think the government has started to care more about sustainable development now. Four years ago, if you talked about preservation, they would think you’re speaking a different language from another planet.

Sustainable development is about a certain degree of compromise – you can still earn money, but you may earn less.

It’s a joke to call ourselves “Asia’s World City,” considering how poorly planned and inaccessible our waterfront is.

I thought of running for the Legco election, but I simply didn’t have enough money and there were no political parties to support me.

Legco is like eating instant noodles, with the councilors trying to add the most juicy and emotional bits in time for the 30-second TV broadcast.

I can’t encapsulate my views in 30 seconds. Legco is not for me.

The whole political scene is like a play. The government and political parties send people out to act out the drama. No one really talks about the policy itself. Nothing has ever changed.

Core values and basic principles are not negotiable.

Could I become a government official? Do you think the government would embrace someone with differing opinions? My views are on record.