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It was very unfortunate that I left my papers in the Aberdeen ward office yesterday. (Laughter). Therefore I could not write my speech last night. (Laughter). This is the beginning of my speech. I make apologies. Now I come to the main body of my speech.
It is indeed with mixed feelings, Mr. Chairman, that I am here today to speak. I am happy that I am elected as a member of this Council and have a chance to serve the public but I feel sometimes much bewildered as to how I can do something which is really necessary to our community.
Mr. Chairman, as probably you and all my colleagues know, I advocated having Hong Kong citizenship during the election campaign. Such an idea is essential for a community like ours. It can knit the society together. It is an indispensable base for any future development. The motion to this effect has been put forward by me in June this year, not without difficulty. In this respect, I am grateful for the limited support given to the Motion by my brother Association. Although it was with some difficulty to convince my colleagues in the Civic Association of the necessity of having Hong Kong citizenship, yet eventually they generously agreed that this motion could be debated in Council if Hong Kong citizenship were to be changed to Local Citizenship on the face of combined efforts of the Reform Club and some of my unofficial colleagues. It has been laid on the table without having a vote. In my humble view, it makes no difference whether the motion is carried or laid on the table, so long as the Government can lend us their sympathetic ear.
If I understand correctly, in September this year, Government introduced new regulations concerning the return visa for Hong Kong residents. Formerly, for a Chinese person, he or she could only obtain a return-to-Hong Kong visa to be valid only for once within a period of 12 months. But now the holder of such a visa can return to Hong Kong as often as he or she wishes and it is valid so long as the relevant Identification Paper is valid. This has greatly alleviated the hardship for a Chinese person when travelling abroad. It is a wise and practical move by the Government. But the main purpose of my launching this idea is to maintain and encourage the good order and economic prosperity of Hong Kong. Government should consider this matter along these lines and the idea of Hong Kong citizenship should be realized without any further delay. It is the first decisive step for consolidating our economy. Yesterday, Dr. LEE talked about the Lease of New Territories. Without having H.K. citizenship, how is the prolongation of New Territories Lease to be negotiated? Yesterday, my friend Mr. SALES also talked about the discrimination against local civil servants. Such discrimination can be done away with if Hong Kong citizenship were created. Nearly every member of this Council spoke about the H.K. citizenship; why is the decision on this important question being further delayed? The creation of H.K. citizenship
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can also basically solve the question of Deportation and Detention raised by my friend Mr. Hilton CHEONG-LEEN.
My second familiar theme, Mr. Chairman, is that Chinese should be one of the official languages and Mandarin should be one of our official dialects in Hong Kong. I advocate this not only for the sake of solving the difficulties of local inhabitants but also to achieve fundamental fairness among the citizens. I have heard the criticism that translation would be a difficult problem. I think this question could be solved if, firstly, responsible Governmental officials could understand both languages, English and Chinese, and, secondly, English correspondence should be replied to in English without a Chinese translation attached, and Chinese correspondence should be replied to only in Chinese as an authentic version from the department concerned. This idea can even be applied in a wider sense. For example, some Magistrate Courts or other tribunals deal entirely with the Chinese population, and sometimes there are hundreds of cases in one morning. The Court rooms are wholly packed with people. It would be most difficult, if not impossible, Mr. Chairman, for the Court translators to interpret what the accused person says to the Court and vice versa. Or in a case where all the witnesses concerned are Chinese or people speaking the Chinese language. Such a situation could be remedied by using the Chinese language alone. We now have many local qualified men who understand both English and Chinese. Government may consider appointing such qualified persons to sit in such Courts and hear the cases without translation. In doing so, it will not only improve the situation but also save time and money.
Thirdly, Mr. Chairman, I would say that more attention should be paid to the "creative needs" of our community. "Creative need" means a need which can yield a productive result or bear fruit. Besides the creation of H.K. citizenship and adoption of the Chinese language, I would cite the following examples to explain the meaning of creative needs.
First example. Government has spent more money on the Police Force than on the Education of Hong Kong. If a society as a whole lacks education, it would be of no help to maintain law and order if only more policemen are to be provided, without providing proper education to the public. Recently, in December this year, an Education Conference took place in Bangkok regarding South Eastern Asian Countries; it was re-emphasised that compulsory education should be given to children between 6 to 12, and further three years' free education should also be given, if possible, to facilitate a young man to find a job, in other words, for a young man to serve the community. Hong Kong unfortunately has lagged far behind in this respect.
Second example, Mr. Chairman, Government did not sufficiently encourage the fair expansion of local industries in a very competitive
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