Donald Tsang: Universal Retirement Protection “Impractical” for Now; Improve MPF First

Chief Executive Donald Tsang used a Legislative Council Q&A to address livelihood concerns, raising elderly welfare on his own initiative. He called implementing universal retirement protection “impractical” for now, saying the scheme remains controversial with no near-term social consensus — better to spend the effort improving the existing MPF system.

Why “impractical”?

Twenty years of debate with no consensus, and ageing undermines sustainability. Tsang noted retirement-protection arguments have run for 20 years, and today’s MPF system was itself the social consensus reached when mainstream opinion opposed the government’s old-age pension proposal. Forcing consensus on such a momentous reform in the short term is impractical, he said. “Fewer young people will bear the cost of supporting retirees, while universal protection costs keep growing” — population ageing would severely threaten the scheme’s sustainability.

What will the government do instead?

Optimise MPF and strengthen elderly welfare. Rather than burning time on “inconclusive debate”, Tsang said, improving the current protection system is more constructive than opening an even fiercer, more divisive social-policy battle. The government and MPFA are working closely to review and optimise MPF arrangements, and he pledged continued work on elderly welfare.

How did groups respond?

They accuse the government of dodging the debate and demand a universal pension study. The Alliance for Universal Pension and others maintain the MPF-CSSA-Old Age Allowance three pillars cannot secure people’s retirement — the more severe ageing gets, the more urgent universal protection becomes — and urge the authorities to stop evading it.

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