If life is a drama, and we are all but actors, why are we still watching TV? Here he is, Ricky Wong Wai-kay, affectionately known by supporters as Wiki Wong - the actor of actors, the best of his crew. People worship him, not so much because he is a rebel or a campaigner for democracy, but because he personifies the Hong Kong Spirit.

Once upon a time, there was a debate in Hong Kong about what our "core values" were. As always, our "experts" came up with a list of things that looked very much like so-called "universal values". A lack of originality, or plain plagiarism, has always been a hallmark of our city's intellectuals.

Traces of this banality have also affected the government. For example, in former chief executive Donald Tsang's last annual Policy Address in October 2011, he said Hong Kong people "worked hard through the years and, without realizing it, created a unique city with its own character". The core values of Hong Kong, according to Tsang, are freedom, rule of law, equality, justice, integrity, pluralism and inclusiveness. In Tsang's eyes, Hong Kong people have a rational and accommodating attitude, and an ability to set aside differences and to strive for consensus in the face of difficult challenges.

What Tsang and others have missed is another side of Hong Kong's spirit. In the eyes of many, especially outsiders, Hongkongers are also well known for their entrepreneurship, money-mindedness, flexibility and a certain laxity of principle. The two images are quite different, which one is the true face of Hong Kong?

This attribute of integrity reminds me of the city's recent debate on public opinion polls, where University of Hong Kong (HKU) pollster Robert Chung Ting-yiu's methodology is currently being challenged. One of the focal points of the controversy is whether a rating of 50 should be considered as "neutral" (as insisted by Chung) or "a pass" (as advocated by some of his critics). While Chung, who conducted the opinion surveys and analyzed the results for two decades, claimed he never intended or suggested a rating of 50 means anything other than "neutral", we found in Issue 11 of POP Express, which Chung published back in 1997, that "as a whole, (Chris Patten's) rating has always stood above 50 (a pass mark) throughout the years which means (he) has indeed left a fairly good image in the hearts of Hong Kong people."

If this is the level of "integrity" at our best university, the general situation in Hong Kong is indeed worrying.

The claim that our core values include equality and inclusiveness also seem a bit delusional. Just a couple of weeks ago, our city topped another global index - this time The Economist's Crony-capitalism Index. This uses data from Forbes to calculate the total wealth of billionaires mainly active in rent-heavy industries, and compare this with the total level of GDP. The Economist found that our billionaires' wealth amounted to almost 80 percent of GDP (for those from rent-seeking sectors, 60 percent of GDP), and that we led the world by an embarrassing margin, making Russia, Malaysia and the Ukraine look like amateurs.

The truth is, our city never glorifies a person who is poor but principled - although quite a number of the rich and decadent. Greed is good! That's why we go to the cinema to watch David O. Russell's American Hustle and Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street.

Wong claims to be the protector of the "rule of law". But he is not, and everyone knows that. He is a businessman and cares about nothing but profits. If "rule of law" is a good marketing line, then so be it. People in Hong Kong all understand the game. In anticipation, they watch Wong's next moves bending the law and outwitting the government.

That's why criticism of Wong on moral grounds disguised as legal reasoning, which I have also indulged myself in, is beside the point. It is not improbable for Wong to prevail at the end. If you really want to know how the public assess the strength of Wong's case, you don't need an opinion poll, just check the stock quotes of HKEX:1137 and NASDAQ:HKTV.

The author is a veteran current affairs commentator.

(HK Edition 03/25/2014 page9)