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HONG KONG PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
even better future. Yet we should not rely on a small number of people to strive for an even better future. We should rely on the six million-odd Hong Kong citizens and Members of the Urban Council to wholeheartedly improve efficiency in various areas and perform even better in our work. We are from different sectors and different social backgrounds. We should forgo our dissenting voices. The most important point is to create harmony for Hong Kong. Differences in views absolutely merit respect, but the most important starting point is to aim our attention at the issues themselves and help government staff to resolve problems. When they act inappropriately, we should monitor them and put forward criticisms. Yet there are some issues that do not merely demand the hard work of Government officials. Since our present Government belongs to us six million people, we, as citizens and Urban Councillors, are obliged to contribute and cooperate too. I believe that we should promote this spirit in the Provisional Urban Council, for Hong Kong is heading towards a new era. In the next fifty years, we will have a highly autonomous environment, and Hong Kong will be ruled by Hong Kong people. But there is the major premise that there would not be two systems unless there is one country. It is hoped that we will cherish it deeply. I should like to thank the Chairman for giving me this opportunity to express my views.
I support the Chairman's motion. Thank you.
Professor PATRICK C. P. Ho (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, I am a new member who has joined the Council lately. In the past six months, I have heard and learnt a lot in the Council. I have been primarily involved in health and cultural affairs of the Provisional Urban Council. The past six months were unpleasantly eventful for the Provisional Urban Council and even for Hong Kong. There was crisis after crisis. The Listeria monocytogenes incident was followed by the bird flu incident and the issues of the Central Library and the Museum of History. How come there were such mistakes? What is our mechanism all about?
I feel that in the Council, different people go about the different businesses. How do we coordinate the various jobs? It is beyond doubt that as a Councillor, I am not well versed in every subject, and I believe that you, my colleagues, are not concurrently health or cultural experts or other kinds of experts either. Being non-experts, it is imperative for us to rely on experts to provide professional knowledge for us to make decisions that would not let the public down. In this way, there are Councillors to make decisions, Departmental staff to carry out the decisions, and specialists to give professional opinions. However, it appears that a lot of problems have arisen from such a relationship, or there would not have been so many incidents, such as the issues of the Central Library and the Museum of History. Why couldn't we utilise those advisors properly?
The role of the advisors requires us to ask before they would attend to matters. When we ask at any given time, they would attend to matters at
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