WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 1987
29
SUPPORT FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF OMBUDSMAN
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THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A COMMISSIONER FOR ADMINISTRATION WITH FULL INVESTIGATIVE POWERS TO ADDRESS THE NEEDS OF HIS JOB WAS TODAY (WEDNESDAY) SUPPORTED BY THE HON RICHARD LAI.
SPEAKING IN THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL DURING THE ADJOURNMENT DEBATE ON THE CONSULTATIVE DOCUMENT ON THE REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES, MR LAI SAID ALL EXISTING CHANNELS FOR REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES EXCEPT THOSE OF OFFICIAL BODIES WERE SET UP PRIMARILY FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
THESE CHANNELS, SUCH AS THE OMELCO, WERE FIRST AND FOREMOST INDISPENS I BLE PARTS OF THE POLITICAL STRUCTURE AND WERE NOT SPECIALLY SET UP TO HANDLE COMPLAINTS.
MR LAI SAID THE PRESENT CHANNELS FOR REDRESS GAVE AN IMPRESSION THAT THEY WERE SCATTERED AND CONFUSING.
+ IF THERE WAS A UNIFIED CHANNEL FOR PEOPLE TO APPROACH, AND FROM IT THE MATTER COULD BE REDIRECTED TO THE APPROPRIATE DEPARTMENTS FOR ACTION AND RECTIFICATION, IT WOULD UNDOUBTEDLY SIMPLIFY THE REDRESS PROCESS AND MAKE IT MORE ACCESSIBLE TO THE PUBLIC.+
HE ADDED THAT THE SUSPICION THAT GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS TENDED TO FAVOUR THEIR OWN STILL EXISTED AMONG A LOT OF PEOPLE.
IF AN INDEPENDENT OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER FOR ADMINISTRATION, WHICH WOULD NOT BE A PART OF THE GOVERNMENT MECHANISM, WAS SET UP PEOPLE WOULD HAVE MORE TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN THE FAIRNESS WITH WHICH IT WOULD HANDLE COMPLAINTS, HE SAID.
MR LAI SAID THAT IF THE SYSTEM OF REDRESSING GRIEVANCES IN HONG KONG AFTER 1997 WAS NOT ADEQUATE AND COMPREHENSIVE, PEOPLE WOULD BOUND TO MAKE FREQUENT REPRESENTATIONS TO BODIES OUTSIDE THE SAR GOVERNMENT. THE EFFECTIVENESS AND INDEPENDENCE OF THE SAR GOVERNMENT WOULD THEN BE PUT IN DOUBT,
HE SAID THE SETTING UP OF A COMMISSIONER FOR ADMINISTRATION WOULD DEMONSTRATE THE DETERMINATION OF THE GOVERNMENT TO LIBERALISE THE POLITICAL PROCESS, AND WOULD GO A LONG WAY IN ENHANCING THE IMPARTIAL AND INDEPENDENT IMAGE OF THE GOVERNMENT.
TURNING TO THE POWERS OF AND THE CANDIDATE FOR THE POST, MR LAI SAID THE FIRST AND MOST FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING WAS THAT THE COMMISSIONER WOULD NOT BE INVOLVED IN THE PROCESS OF POLICY MAKING AND SHOULD NOT EVEN COMMENT ON THE APPROPRIATENESS OF GOVERNMENT POLICIES. THE ROLE OF MONITORING POLICY MAKING WAS THE DOMAIN OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
/HE SAID