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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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the 'cake-sharing' way of allocating chairmanships of functional select committees should be abandoned.
2.
Streamlining the structure
There are now 14 select committees and 25 working groups/sub-committees, i.e. 39 in all, in the Urban Council. In other words, everyone has a seat. 'It doesn't matter if you are competent or not, you will get a chairmanship'. There are indeed far too many committees and working groups. They should be reduced in number by merging related committees or by dissolving some of them. The ultimate aims are to enhance efficiency, avoid requiring Members to join lots of committees and cut down the time spent on discussing committee papers which have already been discussed by some other committee before. I propose to reduce the number of select committees from 13 to 8. Details of my proposal are as follows:
1. Merge the Administration and the Finance Select Committees;
2. Merge the Culture and the Entertainment Select Committees;
3. Merge the Libraries and the Museums Select Committees;
4. Retain the Recreation Select Committee;
5. Retain the Public Health Select Committee;
6. Retain the Markets and Street Traders Select Committee;
7. Retain the Capital Works Select Committee;
8. Retain the Board of Governors of the Hong Kong Stadium;
9. Dissolve the Review Select Committee.
Besides, working groups and sub-committees under the Standing Committee of the Whole Council and the Functional Select Committees should submit annual reports on their work. Those having completed their work or not having held any meeting for one year should be dissolved.
3. Changing the composition of the Board of Governors of the Hong Kong Stadium
Ex-officio seats on the Board of Governors of the Hong Kong Stadium should be deleted. I cannot see any reason why there should be ex-officio members on the Board. Ever since the establishment of the Board of Governors, elected members have been rejected, intentionally or unintentionally. The best example of this can be found in the recent re-election of the Board. I request therefore that the next Board of Governors of Hong Kong Stadium be formed by election from among the Members, and that ex-officio seats be abolished. One other thing is that, since the status of the Stadium's Board of Directors is no different from that of other Select Committees, the Chairman of the Council does not necessarily have to be the Chairman of the Board as well.
4. An independent Urban Council Secretariat
It has been more than twenty years since the Urban Council became independent and financially autonomous in 1973. Despite this, we still do not have an independent secretariat and we still cannot recruit our own Secretary. I find this hard to understand.
The Secretariat is responsible for making proposals to the Council and handling its routine affairs. It passes on resolutions of the Council to the Department for implementation. However, the existing practice is that the Council Secretary is appointed by the Governor and the Secretariat is under the Department and the Director of the Department is responsible for assessing the performance of its staff. Apparently, the staff of the Secretariat serves the Council, but their promotion is decided by someone else. This being the case, how can their 'loyalty' not be affected?
The Legislative Council now has an independent secretariat which functions effectively. I therefore propose that the Urban Council should have one too so that the Secretariat staff can serve the Council with greater loyalty and dedication.
5. The tendency of 'keeping left' in the Council
I have been an Urban Councillor for many years. One thing that is gratifying to me is that on a public occasion, while introducing me, an officer of the Department said, 'He is a Councillor who speaks with a conscience.' With only about 900 days left in the transitional period, less and less people will persist in speaking with a conscience. There will be more and more speculating politicians who 'join in for the election and then go out because of the election'. There will also be people who will spare no time in burning incense to masters of the future regime. These are the last things I want to see.
Meanwhile, a phenomenon of 'voluntarily keeping left' appears in the Council. Some administrative acts which have been practised for a long time are now brought up for discussion. For example, in the controversy over selecting movies for the International Film Festival some Council Members proposed that representatives be sent to Beijing to offer explanation. With regard to the incident of the hiring of the Cultural Centre, some Members said prior consultation should have been conducted with NCNA. Some Members even said that the mentioning of the June 4 Incident and of the breakdown of Sino-British talks in the programmes of some cultural and art activities was politically sensitive and suggested that the Political Adviser's views should be sought. Some proposed cancelling these activities while others went as far as to say that there should not be absolute freedom in the creation of art and that some form of restraint should exist. Such actions and statements make people worry. After all, the Urban Council is not a political organization and its affairs should not be conducted with a political approach.
6. Conclusion
I have already decided not to run in the coming Urban Council election, so this is the last time I speak in an Urban Council's Annual Debate. Of course, I feel quite deeply about this.
In 1988, I ran in the Sham Shui Po District Board election and was elected a District Board member. At that time, I was 'forced' to advance my wedding date in order to run in the District Board election. I got married in December 1987 around Christmas. Then we hurriedly went on a five-day honeymoon. I entered my name for the election one week after my marriage. In 1989, I stood in the Urban Council election for a seat representing the Sham Shui Po (West) constituency and won. In 1991, I ran in the District Board election in mid-March in another district but lost this time. In May, I ran in the Urban Council election again and was re-elected. After becoming a Councillor, I dared not start a family. Actually I was too busy to have any children and take care of them. Over these seven years, I have run in four elections. This experience will definitely leave an unforgettable memory in my life.
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