HONG KONG PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
From the bird flu outbreak, we can see that the government is not forward-looking enough over all these years. This explains why it has not passed a decision to construct incinerators. It also reflects that the government has a weak sense of precaution and its ability to deal with emergencies is far from adequate. The response and actions of the government departments concerned also show that they have not made a thorough estimation of the incident. Mobilization of manpower was confusing, the level of the Inter-departmental Working Group was not high enough, their awareness of forthcoming crises was inadequate and the co-ordination in handling the incident was poor. Their actions from the chicken slaughter to carcass clearance, and to the final burial at landfill sites have all become subjects for ridicule by the general public. Such ridicule can be found in radio and television programmes as well as newspapers everyday, though I suppose such a phenomenon should not appear. Even the middle and lower level civil servants working at the front line have to face inestimable pressure physically and psychologically.
It can be said that the bird flu outbreak has led to a decline in the prestige of the Government and exposed the weaknesses of its bureaucratic system. Have any officials been negligent in handling the bird flu outbreak? We can get some ideas from the media coverage as well as the remark of the Chief Executive that ‘a better job can be done'. It is said that the recent performance of the principal officials of the Government is not up to standard and is subject to strong criticism by all parties. Incidents like the use of mother tongue as the teaching medium, labour importation, sale of low-pricing public rental housing as well as the bird flu outbreak all reflect that the central government somehow lacks political sensitivity. There is also a lack of comprehensive planning and communication, and its ability to handle emergencies is poor. These are all facts beyond doubts. I earnestly hope that the SAR Government can identify the crux of these problems and tide over all difficulties to make improvement following good advice under the leadership of the Chief Executive, Mr. TUNG Chee-hwa, so as to achieve the goals of 'high autonomy' and 'Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong'. As what the Chief Executive has said, ‘a better job can be done'.
With these remarks, Mr. Chairman, I support the motion. Thank you.
MR. LI WAH-MING (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I do not intend to read out the speech that I prepared originally. After hearing through the addresses of other Members, I would like to respond to them instead. I suppose this is what a debate meant to be. Otherwise, it will be too boring to have everyone reading out from a speech in hand.
First of all, in response to the remarks of Mr. Joseph CHAN which subsequently brought about a statement from the Equal Opportunities Commission, I would like to point out that in actual fact, the membership of the Inter-departmental Working Group in question comprises a very small number of high-ranking female officials. The convenor of the Working Group
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