TNAG-1730-FCO40-2443-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1988 — Page 88

DRAFT SPEECH BY HON STEPHEN, CHEONG, OBE, JP LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL -/11 MAY 1988

Motion Debate on the Report on Youth Policy

MR. CHEONG:

Sir

The future of Hong Kong has been uppermost in our minds

ever since the start of the Sino-British negotiations. Many

important and at times heated debates in connection with our future

have taken place in this Chamber over the past few years.

Yet,

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looking back and pondering over what has transpired, somehow I

Laving cannot help but,

t/have a nagging feeling that we might have fallen into the trap of concentrating too much on just one factor,

namely, the development and evolution of our future political

system. Have we not run the risk of losing sight of the importance

of other factors that are of equal significance to our future?

Many parents would say that they are living not only for

themselves but more importantly for their children. Have we not

repeatedly heard that it is only for their children that they are

taking the plunge to emigrate? Should we not accept that the

future of Hong Kong will be very much the future of our youth?

Hence, this debate on youth policy is indeed timely. For me at.

least, it helps to refocus my mind on an issue that has a crucial

bearing on the future of Hong Kong. In short, if our youth are not

adequately prepared to meet future challenges we, or they, will not

have a future.

What then are the challenges? How do we identify them?

Having identified them, how should Government allocate resources

into establishing programmes designed to help our youth to meet

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