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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
I support the motion. (Applause).
MR. H. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, at this Annual Conventional Debate, it is customary for Members to express their views on a wide range of matters affecting the welfare of the community.
The main subject of my address today concerns housing, which includes resettlement, and I propose to discuss this subject at some length, since it is the most vexatious problem that is harrassing a very large number of white-collar and wage-earning families.
But with the indulgence of Members, I would first of all like to comment briefly on certain aspects of the Council's work.
Keep Your City Clean Campaign
While the battle to keep our city clean goes on from day to day, I would commend the suggestion to the Department that in addition, a "Keep your City Clean Week" be sponsored later in the year during which the resources of the Government Information Services and other departments may be enlisted to bring home to the public the need for a cleaner Hong Kong.
The suggestion has been furthermore put to me that "Miss Ping On" is becoming too much of a "well-worn slipper" and it is about time that she be given a "new look", or even provided with a suitable partner.
If a "Keep your City Clean Week" is organized, maximum community participation should be encouraged. And throughout the campaign, every effort should be made to gain maximum public co-operation in eliminating the offensive habit of indiscriminate spitting.
Hawker Control Force
There has recently been some serious criticism and attacks levelled at the Hawker Control Force. I gather that even a number of Council Members will have quite a few pointed remarks to make in connexion with Hawker Control operations during the course of this Debate.
Whatever comments or criticisms are made, whether they be justified or unjustified, I would commend them to the Department for careful analysis and study, because it is only by listening to and considering the views from all sides that the efficiency of the Force can be maintained in the best interest of the general public.
I take this opportunity to repeat what I have said many times previously: that no stone should be left unturned to ensure that Hawker Control policemen and other Urban Council staff are not only courteous to the public at all times but also completely free from graft and corruption.
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I know it is easier said than done, but I will repeat it time and time again, because it is a moral issue which reaches down into the very roots of our society. And unless we, the citizens of Hong Kong, are determined to implacably fight graft and corruption wherever it exists, and fight it today, we would be placing in jeopardy the future of our children, for whom we aspire to provide decent homes, and a decent environment to live in.
Public Relations
Mr. SALES has made reference to the vital importance of this Council maintaining at all times good public relations with the community at large, and I fully endorse his remarks.
We are not living in a totalitarian society and if the Urban Council is to put across its policies to the public and obtain its maximum co-operation from day to day, the need for good public relations cannot be over-emphasized. Two years ago, I had suggested that this Council be provided with a full-time experienced Public Relations Officer. May I suggest, Mr. Chairman, that this proposal be taken out of its "official pigeon-hole" and given the prompt attention by Government that it deserves.
City Hall
The opening of our new City Hall is a milestone in Hong Kong's history, and the enthusiastic crowds that visit the City Hall daily represent a happy augury for this new cultural focus of our multi-racial community.
One suggestion which I may put forward is that a large outdoor mural ought to replace the bareness of the High Block wall facing west. An international competition could be held, and a possible theme for the mural could be one which best depicts East-West cooperation and harmony.
(At this point, Mr. LI Yiu-bor entered the meeting).
The "Problem of Housing"
Turning to the main subject of my address, which has to do with housing, perhaps Members will recall that a few years ago, the Annual Hong Kong Report referred to Hong Kong's number one problem as a "Problem of People".
If a sample opinion poll were to be carried out at this time in Hong Kong, I would be willing to wager that the great majority of people would be saying Hong Kong's number one problem is now a "Problem of Housing".
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