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I recall a few months ago it was reported in the news that a Hong Kong resident parked his two de luxe cars in a car park. One of the cars was more expensive than the other. The following morning, he discovered that both cars had disappeared. One of them was reported to be a B.M.W., the other a Ferrari. Based on these facts, I filled in the following details. The person who received the stolen cars asked whether a mistake had been made as one of the cars looked ugly to him. But the other party told him that it was considered the perfect and ideal car in the western world, and that if it was put on sale, many people would surely rush to buy it and would even have to wait for a long time before they could get one. Noting that the car was only a two-seater, the receiver asked how could the other drive him to disco or to the karaoke party given by our Chairman Dr. LEUNG? The other party replied that the car could go at a high speed. The receiver then asked why should they drive so fast and how much the car was worth. The other person replied that the prices of both cars were the same. The receiver then said that the expenses on petrol would be even greater. He went on to say that they did not have the kind of petrol for such cars. He also said that they could apply the first gear all the way from one end to the other end of the road. In the eyes of the Westerners, the car is a perfect car. Everyone longs to have one like it. People would save up for it and may have difficulty in getting one like it. The story ended with the car later found on a small uninhabited outlying island. The news report went more or less like that. I am afraid that an ideal car is soon to be delivered to us, but will the other car, the B.M.W., be all right, but I don't have one. I only have a Japanese car. In my opinion, the moral of the story is that no matter how ideal some values may be, they have to fit in with many things, and this cannot be covered by one sentence.
I have to apologize to the staff of the Translation and Interpretation Section again before I turn to the next point. I would like to talk about the subject of grey areas. In my opinion, one may well insist that there is no grey area, but he has to make that clear to the other side. If we take a look at the Joint Declaration, the document drafted on the 19th of October and then signed in mid-1985—I am sorry that it is the English version that I refer to—we can find numerous such statements as 'The laws currently in force in Hong Kong will remain basically unchanged; the current social and economic systems in Hong Kong will also remain unchanged, and so will the life-style of the people. Hong Kong's previous capitalist system and life-style shall remain unchanged; the laws previously in force in Hong Kong shall also be maintained; on the basis of the system previously operating in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government shall . . .'. I wish to ask whether one may 'nit-pick' at words such as 'previous' and 'current', and take them to mean mid-1985 or even December 1984? I am not saying that no changes should be made. But as both countries had used these words, and the whole world did witness on television the signing of the document by the two countries in a friendly way, it seems to stand to reason that some definitions should have been worked out beforehand.
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worked out beforehand. The Basic Law was drafted only after the signing of the Joint Declaration. The Basic Law, which took five years to draft, will come into effect only in the future. During this interim period, if any attempt to exploit this grey area is deemed really improper by one party, it seems quite justified that this should be made clear before any further discussion is held. Given my educational background and life-style, I find both Mr. PATTEN's political reform package and the provisions of the Basic Law quite acceptable. Anyway, I have spent the past 40 years in more or less the same way, and it is only in the past 10 years that Hong Kong has seen significant changes. So far, I admire Dr. the Honourable Elsie Tu most for her achievements after so many years of fighting corruption. Since the package of either side is acceptable to me, I will not waste time arguing here. Nevertheless, I think it would be better if one of the two sides makes it clear that the dance in question can only be danced to four-time music.
CHAIRMAN (in English): Thank you, just 5 o'clock. You keep the promise. Next time I should put you in the middle of the ranking so that we will not sleep in the middle of this session. But unfortunately you are the last, we want the session to continue because your presentation is so interesting.
ADJOURNMENT—5.01 p.m.
CHAIRMAN (in English): Ladies and gentlemen, as agreed in the standing committee, I will exercise my right of reply at the next meeting of the Council to be held on Tuesday, 9 February 1993. That concludes our business for today and the Council stands adjourned until the next meeting on the 9 February 1993.
Appendix A
Speech by Ms. Anna TANG King-yung at the Urban Council Annual Conventional Debate on Thursday, 14 January 1993
MR. CHAIRMAN, my time in the Urban Council last year can well be said to have been very 'fruitful'. A total of 220 cases, as well as many well-intentioned comments and constructive suggestions have been received by me. Though we could not satisfy all the needs of the public, the majority of the public have shown satisfaction with our work. Information collected from all sources reveals a general comment of the public: 'Staff of the Urban Services Department are practical and conscientious in their work.'
The three main concerns of the public can be summed up as follows:-
(1) Environmental Hygiene
(a) Refuse: People have not made full use of the facilities provided by the Urban Services Department. The Council should step up education and publicity on the one hand, and strengthen law enforcement on the other.