Keep the faith, hotelier Hari Harilela tells Hongkongers in wake of tensions
Hotelier believes that tolerance is the only way to ease tensions between the city and mainland
Prominent hotelier Hari Harilela, who built his fortune by making critical investments during the 1960s riots, has urged Hongkongers to keep faith with their home as the city experiences tension and uncertainty about its future.
Harilela, often dubbed the richest Indian in the city, has risen from being a child born to an impoverished family to one of the best-known investors in the region's hotel industry.
Commenting on the recent political conflict and tension between Hong Kong and the mainland, the 91-year-old entrepreneur and philanthropist said that only tolerance could bring people together and that understanding was a prerequisite for good solutions to disputes.
Admitting, in an exclusive interview with the , that he spoke from a business point of view, Harilela also said Hongkongers should consider the reasons for the city's thriving economy and be grateful for its success and its proximity to the mainland.
His son, Aron, said the prevalence of protests in the city was however rooted in the fact that people were not well represented in the political system. He called for universal suffrage, but also expressed reservations about a one-man, one-vote system that could not narrow the scope of candidates.
"Where is our home? Our home is in Hong Kong," the elder Harilela said in a wide-ranging interview in his Tsim Sha Tsui office, recounting personal stories, life challenges and his views on how to keep families together in a fast-changing world.
Founded with his two brothers Peter and George, the Harilela Group first focused on textiles but expanded into capital-intensive real estate when political unrest gripped the city.
