Page 509 of 654
HONG KONG PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
the professional knowledge to organise a historic exhibition on the Diaoyu Islands and they would have to contact various tertiary institutions to collect materials. I accepted their explanation and agreed to their views. Yet, in the end, the Department claimed that no tertiary institution was interested in participating in such an event and they even brought a halt to that matter. Superficially, the bureaucracy was unable to deal with unexpected happenings, its ability to handle emergencies was poor. They claimed that tertiary institutions did not have the relevant materials and were not interested. Even if what they said was true, were tertiary institutions the only organisations in Hong Kong that had such materials? Was it that only people at tertiary institutions were interested? Materials on the Diaoyu Islands can be found on the Internet, and the Democratic Party's archives have ample materials on that issue. Bodies such as the Teachers' Association and other organisations for the protection of the Diaoyu Islands are able to provide a lot of materials for reference. On the academic level, the works of Messrs. YANG Chung-kuei and MA Ying-jeou have proven, from the angles of history and international law, that the Diaoyu Islands are Chinese territory. I disagree with the statement that the materials are inadequate. Twenty years ago, there were moving deeds in Hong Kong's history of protecting the Diaoyu Islands. This led to an era of social movements whose participants still exist and relevant materials are still kept. If officers of the Urban Services Department and our staff members had implemented the Council's resolutions in a serious manner, it would be utterly unlikely that they could not find the necessary materials and the grounds for promoting this historic exhibition. The suggestions I have made are nothing but a way. More than one year has lapsed. Any one would have at least reached the initial stage of implementation if he has had the intention to do so. Yet not even that has been achieved! Coming to the bottom of it all, the Department actually hoped to put off the matter and wait and see until Urban Councillors of the next session assume office. Maybe no one of the new session would propose an exhibition on the Diaoyu Islands at all. Despite the fact that Councillors are able, by virtue of their membership in the Council, to monitor the Department, they can achieve very little as they come and go at the end of each term. This is particularly the case when Councillors are not concerned and introspection is alien to them. Moreover, in the civil service, the officials stay forever in their offices. If they have no intention to handle the matter, it would never be implemented.
In fact, the civil service itself is an interest group. It has its own set of values. If we are to believe that civil servants are politically neutral, I cannot see why they have not carried out the Urban Councillors' resolution on the Diaoyu Islands issue. Actually, the same situation occurs in other matters. Yet in this issue, we can see very clearly that the Department often procrastinates and gradually lets each of the motions put forward by Urban Councillors or the Urban Council sink into oblivion. The postponement of the historic exhibition on the Diaoyu Islands has once more indicated that the Department adheres quite obstinately to their bureaucratic consciousness. As long as it is not
Page 509 of 654