HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
67
CHAIRMAN (in Cantonese):-According to the speaking order, will Mr. To Boon-man speak first?
Mr. Daniel To Boon-man (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, because of the time
Chairman (in Cantonese):-I don't want any Member to leave his seat now because we need 11 Members to form a quorum.
MR. DANIEL TO Boon-man (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I ask to shorten my speech and give only the succinct points.
In promoting recreation and sports activities, the Council should cater for people of all ages in order to reach all the people. Under the policy of promoting recreation and sports, we should meet the demands of the aged population. However, if we just increase the number of activities for the elderly blindly without going through the process of surveys into community constituency, analysis and studies, we cannot pinpoint needs or implement the policy according to practical circumstances. When we design our recreation activities in future, we should take account of the distribution of age groups in different districts. Analysis will help us design less energetic sports activities for the aged. This is the first point.
The second point. I hope we can make use of non-busy office hours to stage activities. In this way, we can best utilize venues, equipments and other resources.
Thirdly, I hope activities for open participation are organized after surveys and general consultation so as to meet practical needs.
Lastly, although we have to continue studying population and age distribution, we should not place emphasis on any particular age groups. We should cater for the needs of all age groups in the spirit of general participation. Thank you.
MR. TAM KWOK-KIU (in Cantonese):—Because of time constraint, I will shorten my speech and give the full text to the Secretariat for reference.
I speak on behalf of Urban Councillors belonging to the Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood and we support Mr. CHAN's motion. Let me give my point briefly from the community angle. With the urbanization of modern society, family structures have changed. We see more nuclear families and alienation between people. It is common now for young couples to set up their own families. As elderly people's working abilities fall, they stay at home for longer periods if they do not participate in community activities. And yet, they have less and less time with their children. They find themselves more and more distanced from society. That distance can be narrowed if old people can still assimilate into society after retirement and
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