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Friday, November 17, 1972
THE OBLIGATIONS OF CITIZENSHIP
The new Director of Social Welfare, Mr. F.K. Li, today reminded
young people graduating from school of their duty, as citizens, to make
"a personal contribution to welfare work in our community."
He told pupils of Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, on the occasion of
their Speech Day: "It is your obligation, as members of our society, to
involve yourselves in welfare work, and I urge you to honour that obligation."
It was Mr. Li's first public address as Director of Social Welfare.
He said it gave him great joy to return to the school from where he had
graduated 31 years ago.
The Hong Kong of that time was a very different place from the
Hong Kong of today, and he was proud of the achievements that had transformed
it into a modern industrial city with a standard of living second to none in
Asia with the exception perhaps of the major cities in Japan.
He described the success of Hong Kong as the result of "a mixture
of the East and the West, not only in commerce and industry but also in
government administration and education."
In his view, this mixture was no less evident in the welfare field,
where traditional institutions such as the Tung Wah group of hospitals and
the Po Leung Kuk, after responding to the growing needs and challenges of
the community, were working alongside new welfare agencies for the common
good.
"Social welfare