The overall change is not directly on the orders of Communist Beijing, which was once feared. But rather it is a looking-over-the-shoulder sense; the Big-Brother-is watching-syndrome. This is different from the government's "parental" image in Singapore.
When I told old friend Neville de Silva, columnist of the Hong Kong Standard, that I had just come from a week in Singapore, he bellowed "what are you, some kind of masochist?"
But, de Silva remains skeptical of the furor over press freedom which he describes as "fashionable," a sort of "flavor of the month" syndrome. "Many of these young journalists never lived through the struggles for independence from colonial rule. They will play the 'free press' game and then head off to some fellowship funded by an American foundation. This is not a fad, it's about Hong Kong's survival."
And writer Nick Walker, who has lived in both places, said "There's more buzz in Hong Kong than Singapore." He says after the Asian financial crisis, things will be back in perspective. "Hong Kong's depth and legacy will override the short-term kowtowing to China and all the hand-wringing that goes with it."
Such spirited competitiveness doesn't hide some selected stark facts pointing to Hong Kong's relative decline.
Hong Kong's English-language, South China Morning Post for years the most profitable newspaper in the world, last year saw a 48.8 percent or US$53 million decline in profits. The other English-language paper, the Hong Kong Standard, is on the ropes and up for sale. By contrast the Straits Times and its sister papers Business Times and New Paper are booming in Singapore.
While Hong Kong is officially downgrading the English language in education, Singapore is stressing English.
Vilay Menon, Secretary-General of the region's premier communications organization, Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC), located on an idyllic green campus in Singapore, told me "The future of the press, and internet, in this multi-racial society is definitely tied to the English language."
The remaining expatriates in the Hong Kong civil service are being pressured to take pay cuts. This includes professors at Hong Kong University, whose academic salaries are no longer the world's highest. British young people, who didn't need visas under British rule, are finding renewal difficult. Fewer and fewer upscale waiter jobs are going to expatriate. Next to go may be the 140,000 Filipino maids whose jobs could be handled by Chinese from the mainland. In Singapore, expatriates are welcomed in the drive for technological excellence.
