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of the International Covenant on Human Rights should be respected. This allows the space, the use of which is being enjoyed by us, to keep on developing and enables us to establish a fair and just system. I very much wish to quote the sayings of the Chinese saints for mutual encouragement, 'He who is virtuous has no anxieties'—facing the change of this great period, we should take a firm stand; 'He who is wise has no doubts'—to stick to personal principle without wavering; ‘He who is brave is fearless'—daring to utter sincere words without fear.
Mr. Chairman, these are my remarks. Thank you.
MR. TIM S. MANUEL Chan (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, Councillors, I remember at one particular Select Committee meeting, I labelled the Urban Services Department as a 'Gigantic bovine tortoise'. Staff members of the Department raised their hands immediately in protest. Then, the Chairman of the meeting asked me to be careful with my words in future in order not to tarnish the image of USD. Today, I will talk about ‘gigantic bovine tortoise' again. Through briefly explaining these three words, I will give my opinions about the Department and make recommendations on the work of the Urban Council in the coming year.
Being ‘gigantic', the USD has about 17,000 members of staff, the largest of all non-disciplinary departments. This is the figure given to me by the Deputy Director, Mr. Chan.
The word 'bovine' generally refers to people who work hard like a farm ox. Unfortunately, ever since the comedian Michael Hui teased people who work hard like an ox for having no future, the word 'bovine' has become a derogatory word instead of a commendatory one. But, I use this word in a neutral way. The Department works as hard as an ox. Unfortunately, it lacks direction, vision, and strategies.
Being 'a tortoise' is the biggest problem. A small tortoise can still be agile. But a gigantic tortoise, though a sign of longevity and auspiciousness, generally lacks efficiency, speed, and responsiveness.
I have been an Urban Councillor for 9 months. There have been papers on 'Permanent and temporary alienation of sites for sitting-out areas and parks', 'Screening of market layout plans', 'Resiting of refuse collection points', 'Adjustment of UC licence and permit fees', and 'Review of hire charges and booking arrangements for cultural centres', etc. I regard these papers with aversion and trepidation.
Are there no better subjects that we can discuss? Papers prepared by Councillors are always put under the item of 'Any Other Business'. Basically, Councillors are unable to get a written reply or a comprehensive response from the Department immediately. As a result, we can never discuss the issues properly.
Since the direct election of all Urban Councillors, the public have been patiently monitoring how we perform (whether we have prevaricated, procrastinated, and resigned to circumstances, or whether we have been bold in initiating changes and
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