Governor's "Letter to Hong Kong"
Following is the full text of the Governor, the Rt Hon Christopher Patten's broadcast on RTHK's "Letter to Hong Kong" today (Sunday):
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After my Policy Address each year, I go through a now-familiar whirl of press conferences, public meetings, media phone-ins and television discussions. I've just run my last lap, and as ever it's been enjoyable and instructive. And it does, of course, serve a purpose
it's a very physical manifestation of the accountability of government. Anyone, for example, can come to a public meeting and ask a question about anything. Literally anything. They can berate the government for not doing enough about the problem that worries them, draw attention to a particular grievance which is gnawing away at them, focus interest on their own bug-bear from pornography on the Internet to the roadworks in Southern District. On top of everything else, this process gives the community the chance to let off steam in a civilised way. The only thing that is on the line is the Governor's reputation. And that is precisely as it should be.
I've been struck over the years by how this public give-and-take throws light on particular problems or areas of public concern that might otherwise be overlooked. At the very first public meeting I had in a packed hall, a questioner in a wheel-chair asked me a very civil but vigorously worded question about services for the disabled in Hong Kong. That woke me up to an area where frankly we were lagging behind in the sort of provision we made for people with a disability and in public attitudes to those who are disabled.
Since then we've moved a long way. In extending services for people with disabilities. In providing facilities. In changing the law. In making it a bit easier to travel and to get a job. But it's only a start. I still think of the mother I met in her small flat. bringing up a large family, looking after a severely handicapped and growing son, patiently, bravely trying to struggle through each day, exhausted by her loving care and feeling very lonely as she tried to survive each 24 hours. I hope that today she's getting a little more help. But there are still too many in her situation, some of the greatest heroes and heroines of our society.
So the problems of those with a disability zoomed up my priority list precisely as a result of meeting people who cared and who could challenge me publicly about the issue.
Three other things strike me about the process of accountability. First, a subject. Second, an attitude. Third, an assumption.
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