Why can't government officials see?

I have no intention to join the controversy of imposing national education in the school curriculum. Nobody can put forth any reasonable objection against national education. However, the insensitivity of government officials has spoilt the whole project, turning a good thing into bad. They have lost touch with the reality and sentiment of the citizens. Simply put, the citizens see mainlanders as intruders and locusts. The mainlanders come to push up the prices of everything, from milk-powder to housing, from maternity ward to school places. Teachers of national education are fighting a losing battle against just one piece of bad publicity news from the mainland --- journalists being illegally detained for more than 44 hours while interviewing dissidents, vandalism during anti-Japanese demonstrations or a mother being punished for petitioning the public security to save her daughter who had been kidnapped and sexually abused etc. When one of these pieces of 'bad' news comes to light, no amount of national education can make the children love their mother country.

Why can't people see the reality?
Simply put, for many people, the reality is too difficult to imagine/accept. Perhaps they have a political agenda to achieve and turn a blind eye to people's sentiment only to back off disgracefully later. Mainland officials see sending visitors to Hong Kong as a benevolence to the livelihood of the local residents. They see themselves showering gifts to save the economy of Hong Kong. They send astronauts and Olympic medalists to entertain and cheer up the patriotism of the citizens of Hong Kong etc. Hong Kongers are too ungrateful. They should learn to love their mother country, beginning with young children in primary schools. For a longer term in the future, mainland officials fear that the universal suffrage of Chief Executive in 2017 will return someone who does not obey them ... etc.
The officials of the SAR Government have underestimated the anti-government sentiment of the citizens stirred up by the "China Model" teaching materials published by the National Education Service Centre which is financially dependent on the government. They think that monetary incentives ($530,000 for each school that implements national education) as well as implicit threats of folding up uncooperative schools (by not sending enough students to their primary one classes) are powerful enough to force schools to implement the curriculum.
Hong Kong citizens see the situation differently. They see the Liaison Office pulling the strings behind the SAR Government. They see mainland visitors absorbing their resources and welfare, pushing up prices to make their daily lives difficult. They don't want to see their children turned into Red Guards, class struggling their parents in the public. In short, they don't want Hong Kong to become one of the Communist Chinese cities. These kinds of sentiment are created by the Central Government and SAR Government together. A national education curriculum definitely cannot solve the problem.

Today, in the gospel reading, we found St. Peter scolded by Jesus because Peter was not able to accept the reality that the Messiah had to suffer and die. Like most of the contemporary Jews, Peter expected the Messiah to be a political and military saviour to drive out the Romans. Peter and his fellow apostles gave up everything to follow Jesus who worked miracles. They bet all they had on this Galilean carpenter-Rabbi to build up a new kingdom etc. Instead, Jesus told them that he was going to be killed.
And he began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again (Mark 8:31).
This went totally against the political agenda of Peter, even the apostles and all the followers of Jesus. So Peter tried to dissuade Jesus from doing such a stupid thing.
But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter, and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God, but of men."  (Mark 8:33)

Who doesn't make mistakes? Even St. Peter made mistakes. He made mistakes up to the very end: he struck people with a sword to prevent Jesus from being arrest (Mark 14:47). He was scolded by St. Paul for avoiding the uncircumcised company in the presence of Judaizers (Galatians 2:11-14). Legend also has it that Peter fled Rome during persecution, only to meet Jesus on the way. So, he returned to be crucified upside down on the hill of Vatican. Therefore, government officials can make mistakes. If you are a small potato, your mistakes will not bring too much harm to too many people. However, if you are big, your mistakes will definitely bring a lot of harm to a lot of people. So, see clearly which side you are on, God's or men's. You may not enjoy the special privilege and protection Peter had enjoyed.

Dear Lord, I pray for officials of both governments. Enlighten their minds and brighten their eyes so that they are able to see which side they are fighting against. Amen.