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(iv) The Police Force should "clean its own house" first so as to re-establish its reputation as an instrument for law enforcement and not the contrary.
To avoid unfavourable criticism, the department would gain in many ways by publicly announcing the disciplinary action taken in regard to the eleven police officers involved in the ICAC incident.
In conclusion, may the responsible authorities learn from this bitter and shameful experience and try again to make Hong Kong a better and cleaner place for us to live in.
B. A FEW COMMENTS ON THE COUNCIL.
Today's is the fifth conventional debate since this Council became financially independent. Though we have twelve appointed and twelve elected members, this is fifth consecutive year that the meeting has been chaired by an appointed member. It is not my intention to question the ability and zeal of my appointed colleagues. The situation nevertheless makes me feel rather uneasy.
The public often confuses Official Members with Appointed Members as both are not elected. Consequently, they are both regarded as government people. This is of course not correct. On many occasions I have been asked why no elected member has ever been voted to the Chair and whether or not it is the rule that this Council must be chaired by an Appointed Member. I find these questions difficult to answer. Sometimes it is painful to tell the truth that not all Elected Members keep their promise to unselfishly serve the best interests of the public which is indeed the reason for what has happened.
When we need to elect from among ourselves a Chairman of this Council in 1973 after the withdrawal of Official Members, realizing the divisions on the elected side, I proposed to my elected colleagues to form a united front so as to negotiate with Appointed Members for a rotation system every two years. This was unfortunately rejected by the Senior Elected Members. The result is that not only is the Chair always occupied by an Appointed Member, but more frustrating, even the vice-chairman was chosen by them, a situation no Elected Member can accept without a feeling of shame.
I would now agree that the refusal to increase the elected with a corresponding decrease in the appointed seats is probably an ingenious device so that the government can always control the Council through the Appointed Members. The situation will not change unless and until Elected Members wake up one day and recall the promises they made to the electors. Only then may we have the opportunity to shoulder more important responsibilities and to prove ourselves equally capable, but will there ever be such a day?
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Our organization and working arrangements need review and overhaul. In this Council's 1973 re-organization, public housing, one of the most important services, was taken away from us, and a year later the administration of public carparks, the only symbolic link of this Council with public transport, was also yielded to another government department. In spite of much reduced responsibilities, the number of our Select Committee has increased from eight in 1972-73 to thirteen. What is more spectacular is the sudden upsurge in the number of Council papers and meetings.
Statistically, there were 129 meetings and 758 relevant papers in 1972-73 while for the year 1976-77 we had 302 meetings and 3,148 papers, and the trend is still on the increase.
To illustrate: Suppose the Entertainment Sub-Committee of the City Hall and Entertainment Select Committee resolved and recommended that two more junior staff should be employed. This would first have to be approved by the City Hall and Entertainment Sub-Committee, then it would go to the Establishment Sub-Committee of the Administration Select Committee for scrutiny, next to the Administration Sub-Committee itself for approval and obtain final approval from the Finance Select Committee. Take another instance. The Food Hygiene Select Committee in April this year decided to have a food inspection office at Kai Tak Airport which would cost around $100,000. This issue started its prolonged tour first with the Administration Sub-Committee, then the Finance Sub-Committee, then the Planning and Development Sub-Committee and finally reached the Standing Committee of the Whole Council early this month.
Since all Councillors are provided with minutes of all meetings, thus for those two junior staff posts we read five papers, which I find most boring and quite unnecessary. And that small project involving more than $100,000, took eight months for a final decision. The staff of the Urban Services Department have my sympathy in that they not only have to prepare papers for each meeting but also have to attend a number of meetings for virtually the same deliberation.
We all know that jurisdiction of this Council as a local authority is the smallest in the world and we seem to be artificially making ourselves busy through duplication of work.
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