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$10. The event has since taken place successfully but the conclusion has yet to be drawn awaiting a statement of income and expenditure. We have spent a large amount of public fund on such commercially-oriented activities purporting to avoid a repeat of the Lan Kwai Fong tragedy or claiming to be cost-effective in utilizing the Council's resources. The Council, as a major sponsor as well as the provider of the free use of the venue, has the duty to consider carefully beforehand and to conduct a detailed review afterwards.
Besides these festive activities, concerts of pop singers are still a booming business. These pop singers have become the main patrons of some UC venues, such as the Hong Kong Coliseum, Queen Elizabeth Stadium and Ko Shan Theatre. However, the organizers of these entertainment programmes are usually made up of records companies, entertainment companies, artist agencies and companies for stage acoustics and lighting effects, which greatly differ from one another in terms of quality and commercial ethics. They do not offer their audience any protection in such matters of public interest as the fee they charge, the quality of the show and, in particular, the audience's safety.
On 13 February last year, a tragic accident happened in Hong Kong Coliseum in which a member of the audience fell to his death as he scrambled for the balloons distributed by the organizer. The Court conducted a coroner's inquest last August and passed a verdict that the teenager concerned died of accident. It means that the parties concerned were not legally held responsible for the accident. In fact, human factors are the underlying causes of such accidents. When the Standing Committee of the Whole Council discussed the accident on 2 March 1993, a Councillor pointed out, 'The safety record of the Hong Kong Coliseum has never been satisfactory. In fact, there have been injury cases but they have not been reported because the injuries incurred are not serious.' This shows that the safety of the audience of such concerts is a cause of concern.
In summarizing the discussion at the meeting, CUC pointed out, "The over-excited behaviour of individual spectator is almost uncontrollable due to the nature of pop concerts and some entertainment programmes.' We have reasons to believe this is the fact, but if viewed from another angle, this in fact reflects the potential hazards to the audience of such shows. We, as a provider of the venue, are of course difficult or even impossible to control the emotion of the crowd. Nevertheless, the Council can indeed improve the situation by imposing restrictions and control on the presenters. The improvement measures taken by the Council afterwards, namely, posting more warning notices, having the aisle lighting improved and advising the hirers of the Coliseum to consider if there is the need of arranging activities that will cause the audience to leave their seats, are only haphazard measures which may not solve the above problems completely.
I would say last year is a disappointing one as far as the work of organizing cultural and recreational activities is concerned, because unhappy incidents happened repeatedly in those large-scale entertainment programmes.
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In early August, last year, the concerts given by another pop singer in the Coliseum were marred by the appearance of fake tickets. More than 200 people bought these tickets and sustained losses. Although the incident was undoubtedly beyond the control of the Council, it has adversely affected the image and reputation of the Council to some extent. In fact, some victims expressed dissatisfaction over the way the case was handled and accused the organizer of being irresponsible.
Admittedly, the Council has neither the power nor the responsibility to eliminate such commercial frauds, but the problem presented here is a cause of concern. While this kind of show business keeps booming, it is foreseeable that more lawless people will take the opportunity to defraud the public. The incident of fake tickets may just be the tip of an iceberg. Commercial frauds involving such events will certainly appear in many more different forms. As a result of the incident, the Council has focused on the upgrading of the URBTIX system. But this is only one of the remedial measures. Strengthening public education, restricting the resale of tickets, and monitoring the organizers by requiring them to protect potential victims of such frauds against losses are all worth considering.
In the longer term, such frauds may grow well beyond the confines of concerts or other performing programmes targeted mainly at young people. With entertainment programmes becoming more commercialized and more large-scale and diversified, the Council, being the only organization in urban areas to provide proper venues for performances, may have to face the problems arising therefrom. Although as far as our role is concerned, the Council is only the manager and lessor of the venue, yet the aims of the Council include the formulation and implementation of various cultural and recreational policies. Hence, ... Therefore, it would be most irresponsible to say that the Council should not be held responsible for the many problems arising from such shows in the past year.
In the performance pledge issued by the Urban Services Department in the middle of the year, it is pointed out that the aim of the Council is to provide the public with well-managed facilities so that they can enjoy our excellent services. The problem is, if this does not include the provision of proper protection to the public during their enjoyment of such facilities, then the spirit of this pledge can hardly be upheld. What I would like to put forward is that, if the Council is responsible for the provision of high-quality and reliable cultural and recreational activities, it has to play a more active role in these activities by stepping up supervision or setting up a more positive and effective monitoring system with the cooperation of the Government. I am sure this need is becoming increasingly pressing.
Mr. Chairman, with these remarks, I support the motion.
MR. VINCENT CHOW WING-SHING (in English):-Mr. Chairman, when eyelids droop, pupils dilate, heads nod, bodies slump; when gazes start to wander and seats begin to empty: 'tis late into the second day of the Annual Debate.
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