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work of the Council with 2/3 of its members being elected. I think the Government is trying to give out presents so as to claim that the Government is promoting democratisation. I think the Government is hypocritical here because the Government is not really that transparent. The SDB has been with us for four years. With the emergence of the problem of overlapping of responsibilities between the UC and SDB, the Government has never admitted its mistakes. The Government is allowing the mistakes to continue. There has been a description that the establishment of the SDB will not lead to duplication of work. It was asserted that it will only lead to a diversification of sports development. It was even said that if the UC is not agreeable to the setting up of the SDB or the Arts Development Council, it will hinder the further development and promotion of sports and arts. I think the Urban Council is being restricted. If we adopt an objective approach, I don't think the assertion is true. I think it is only window dressing to say that it will diversify our sports development. You can imagine that there are two organizations using public money and taxpayers' money to do the same kind of work. Besides overlapping of work, we are also wasting a lot of valuable resources. History shows that the Urban Council has been doing a good job. There is no convincing argument to show that the Urban Council's work should be taken over by the Sports Development Board which is just to hire our venues without having its own venues. The Urban Council has been asked to provide the venues for that statutory body. I don't think this supports the argument for another body which will give rise to diversification of sports development. Today, I will not go into details of the appropriate demarcation of responsibilities between the two bodies. I think the ultimate solution is to disband the SDB or to incorporate the SDB into the Urban Council so that the work of the SDB becomes part and parcel of that of the Urban Council. What I want to point out is that the duplication of work is only the phenomenon of something that we have not discussed. I think we should avoid similar duplication and wastage of resources and that can avoid and prevent further erosion into the responsibilities of the Urban Council. If we look at the Urban Council Ordinance, Cap. 101, our responsibility is to provide, promote, assist or co-operate with persons or organizations in the provision of demonstrations or training of sports etc. But then the Government also set up the SDB under the Hong Kong Sports Development Board Ordinance. The SDB was supposed to support and complement the two Councils in order to promote the development of sports. Also, the SDB was supposed to come up with a co-ordinated plan. What has happened now is that the SDB has forgotten its role to support and complement. So I want to know whether the Government is allowing two different sets of sports policies. If there are conflicting policies, how are we going to co-ordinate? Are we supposed to set up a second kitchen? I think we have to ask the Government one question: Is the Government trying to erode the power of the Urban Council? I think the Central Government is trying to privatise a lot of its work. A lot of Government departments are being hived off. I suspect that there is a hidden agenda. I think the Government is trying to disarm various departments so that in the end the Government is powerless. The Government becomes only an empty shell and the Council becomes a powerless Council. I cannot say for certain what is the ulterior motive. But I can say that this is against the interest of the public and I don't think it is the work of a responsible Government because it is ridiculous to have different systems under a single Government.
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powerless. The Government becomes only an empty shell and the Council becomes a powerless Council. I cannot say for certain what is the ulterior motive. But I can say that this is against the interest of the public and I don't think it is the work of a responsible Government because it is ridiculous to have different systems under a single Government.
Mr. Chairman, I suspect what the Government is taking the risk of being accused of being irrational has some sort of conspiracy. I don't want to speculate what sort of conspiracy there is. The Government has always claimed that it is an open government. So maybe the Government should come forward and tell us why it set up the SDB and the ADC. The Government must tell us the real reason for setting up such Councils. Mr. Chairman, I formally invite the Government to send policymakers to this Council to answer queries from us. The former Director of Urban Services i.e., the present Secretary for Recreation and Culture, Mr. James So, should well understand that there is no need for SDB and ADC to exist outside the Urban Council. So I want to know about the viewpoints and position of Mr. James So. I want to know about the role he has played regarding these changes. I want to know whether he has betrayed the Urban Council and the general public of Hong Kong? Finally, I think it is high time for the Urban Council to negotiate seriously with the Hong Kong Government to stop eroding our functions and making administrative intervention. More important is that the Urban Council should be more open and try to provide better and active municipal services to the public.
Mr. Chairman, with these remarks, I oppose the motion.
MR. PAUL YOUNG TZE-KONG (in English):- Mr. Chairman, my colleagues have dealt extensively on this motion. I think I don't have much to add to that. The Council, I think, should learn from this experience and carry out a comprehensive review and/or consider strategies in light of the existing ordinance of the UC and the relevant public bodies. In this connection and in particular in view of the Council's knowledge of the recent draft ordinance of the Provisional Arts Development Council, it is urgent that our three Select Committees namely Culture, Museums, and Libraries should jointly carry out the above review. Competition is healthy only if it contributes towards a healthy and balanced progress of a community at large. With the above words, I support the motion.
MR. JOSEPH CHAN YEUK-SUT (in Cantonese):- Mr. Chairman, recently, the SDB has made inroads into many aspects of sports and recreation which erode to a certain degree Council's work and responsibilities in these areas. I do remember that our staff who are responsible for promoting sports activities have told us that members of the SDB explicitly interfered with their duties at the community and grassroots levels. If this is the case, then definitely the SDB has interfered with our operation regarding recreation and sport activities at the district level. They are either ignorant or high-handed which in fact is detrimental to our community. As far as its composition is concerned, the SDB
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