(I)
Translation
DRAFT SPEECH BY HON YEUNG PO KWAN, CPM, JP
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 25 MARCH 1986
Adjournment Debate - Chinese Language Foundation
Sir,
When the proposed
package of Language in Education
together with details of its financial implications were
presented to the Executive Council on 14 April 1981, the Executive Council agreed that the concept of a Chinese Language Foundation should be approved in principle. However, the
Secretary for Education and Manpower struck a different tune in his speech during the Budget Debate on 23
23 April 1986, that the Government had decided, in the light of
in the light of development since 1982, not to proceed with the establishment of a Chinese Language Foundation at the present time. Two prima facie reasons were given in support. They were as follows (1) after the signing
of the Sino-British agreement, the community started to attach more importance to the use of Chinese,
of Chinese, and (2) the authorities concerned had already encouraged the use of Chinese as a
a medium
of instruction in schools. Yet, if we care to examine these developments in greater depth, it would not be difficult to discover that they tell an entirely different message, revealing quite to the contrary why we need a Chinese Language Foundation in promoting the use of Chinese.
The Working Party on the Development of a Chinese Language Foundation has pointed out clearly in its report that the major objectives of a Chinese Language Foundation should be to promote and facilitate the better use of spoken and written Chinese as basic tools for communication, study, work, leisure and self-enrichment in a modern society, with a view to raising