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HONG KONG PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
I am also quite concerned about cultural issues. The Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, the Hong Kong Dance Company and the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre are under the Urban Council's administration. Members of the cultural sector, councillors, and even academics have remarked on the absence of a breakthrough in the performances and standard of these three performing companies. Actually, the proposal of corporatisation of these three performing companies was brought up in a document a few years ago. Unfortunately, the members of the Culture Select Committee and the Standing Committee seem to have forgotten the matter. Could we reconsider whether or not these three performing companies could be corporatised and whether or not their efficiency could be further improved? I hope that this issue will be included again in the agenda for the coming year.
In several motion debates in the past, I found out that even though the departmental authorities did inform us of the progress of the issues in the motions and submitted reports thereon, those progress reports were furnished many months after the motions had been moved. Some debates have even been delayed for two or three years, and little action has been taken. Each time, the Director of Urban Services, in conformity with the usual practice, would issue documents to us and tell us to read them and put forward our questions, if any. After two to three years of observation, I have detected the presence of decay in that mechanism. As we are all concerned, I hope that we will review the motions we proposed in the past year or two or even three and identify the areas that demand more attention and the follow-up action we should take for the motions. In fact, many issues previously raised have been neglected, and action has all along been postponed. Of course, there are issues that can be handled, and some have already been handled, yet I feel that on the whole, 70 percent of the motions have not been followed up in an in-depth or earnest manner.
Regarding Hong Kong's recent situation, I spoke with some residents a few days ago, and they asked if the existing officials and the setup of the Hong Kong Government were suffering from bird flu. Why did they say that? They said that the various incidents that had taken place following our reversion to Chinese rule, including the bird flu incident, the prescription of wrong medications, the cyanide incident, the problems in the repair and maintenance of public housing, the loosening of a piece of glass in a shopping centre installed by a Housing Authority contractor which led to the injury of a child, and also the issue of education in the mother tongue cast numerous doubts on our Government and officials. I feel that those incidents have exposed certain faults in the Government departments' handling of public affairs. In simpler terms, the faults include low standard, self-assertion, perfunctory attitude, and inadequate sense of responsibility. I cannot refrain from asking how come the officials have deteriorated to such a state. Have problems popped up in our civil service system? Is leadership by Administrative Officers the best arrangement? Is the overall administrative