TNAG-1734-FCO40-2447-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1988 — Page 334

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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

11 May 1988

With greater economic prosperity and development, many young people turn towards materialism and hedonism and they tend to forget the social obligations they have. They are not fully aware of the circumstances around them and are sometimes lost as to what their future holds. I think that youth conferences can enable young people to get a better understanding of themselves and of society in general and let them understand that by fulfilling their obligations society as a whole can benefit.

Youth problems reflect the inadequacies in school and family discipline. Teachers can only discipline students within the school. When the students leave school, they come under the discipline of their parents, but today, many parents go out to work and the students have nothing to do after school. They loiter on the street and, sometimes unfortunately, get involved in triads. This is detrimental not only to the young people themselves but also to society as a whole. In order to make up for the inadequacies of family and school discipline, the Government should provide more recreational and cultural activities, especially in the new towns, and provide more supporting services.

Recently, there have been many cases of youth leaving home, running away from home, and it seems that every day there are one or two such cases on average. This is something that we should pay attention to. It is quite possible that they meet with unruly elements once they leave home and so I suggest that the Social Welfare Department and voluntary agencies should help these people and channel them towards healthy and wholesome activities and come under the better influence of group life and change their stubborn characters.

The young population will continue to be large. At present, the number of people between the ages of 10 and 25 account for 25.7 per cent of Hong Kong's total population. In the next 10 years, the same group will comprise 20.2 per cent of the population. This will have both positive and negative effects on Hong Kong's development. In 1985, the International Year of the Youth gave an opportunity for public attention on matters of youth. I hope that the Government will take the lead in implementing a youth policy so that the people here will continue to pay attention to youth and do something positive for them.

Sir, with these remarks, I support the motion.

DR. LAM (in Cantonese): Sir, the following figures are sufficient to show the importance of young people to Hong Kong. There are 1.4 million young people between the ages of 10 and 25; working youths between the ages of 15 and 25 account for 32 per cent of Hong Kong's total labour force. A youth policy is necessary to deal with the important question of how to tap the rich source of talent involving such a large number of young people.

The Central Committee on Youth in its Report on Youth Policy places at the top of the list of principles to be considered the item: 'to maximise opportunities and facilities for formal and informal education.' On the point of view of priority, education is indeed an important step to develop youth potential. In

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