HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Mr. Chairman, I say that we all want the proceedings of the Council to be in Cantonese so as to attract more people to take an interest in this Council's work and to serve as Members, but as Mr. NG has rightly pointed out, it is evident to all Urban Councillors that this will not be a Council constituted of people other than English speaking persons until after 1970 because of the Urban Council Election Ordinance. That is as clear as daylight. So let us be true to ourselves, let us make progress by all means and let us press for that progress as much as we can, but let us do it in the right place, the Standing Committee of the Whole Council. I subscribe wholeheartedly to what Mr. Hu wants to achieve, but I think Mr. Hu will respect the attitude of our Cantonese Members who insist that this matter should be studied further in the Standing Committee of the Whole Council. (Applause).
(Mr. LI Yiu-bor left the meeting at this point).
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, it is election year, (laughter), and this motion—it sounds a bit like an election motion—but being an elected Member myself, I understand the difficulties and problems of my fellow elected Councillors, so we must make some allowances for that. I, myself, am 100% behind Mr. Henry Hu and Mr. BERNACCHI in the sentiments expressed in this motion. I think we are moving ahead in that direction, and that is why we have set up the Committee known as the Sub-Committee on simultaneous translation. Whatever the difficulties are we must overcome them; but, Mr. Chairman, I think it has already been said that let us do first things first, and that is, we must prepare for the 1971 elections, which is two years from now, and for the 1971 elections we must have the Government change the Ordinance.
The present Ordinance concerning qualifications for Members of this Council, Mr. Chairman, says that candidates must be able, inter alia, to read and write the English language with a degree of proficiency sufficient to enable him to take an active part in the proceedings of the Council. Now, I respectfully submit, Mr. Chairman, that in addition to the English language, the Ordinance has to be changed in order to permit a voter who wishes to run for the Urban Council to be non-English speaking. In other words, it could be amended to say "to read and write English or Chinese (Cantonese) with a degree of proficiency sufficient to enable him to take part in the deliberations of the Council". Now, unless we do that, then it would be impractical for us to introduce simultaneous translation, because then we would be only practising our Cantonese with each other. I think it is more important between now and 1971 that we should get to grips on the suggestions which have been put forward by Mr. NG, the Chairman of the Organization Committee, and Dr. Woo, on simultaneous translation, and which is, first of all, that we should get Radio Hong Kong, and not only Radio Hong Kong, but Commercial Radio as well, to carry out running commentaries in Cantonese of the deliberations of this Council. Also, as has been previously suggested, if there is a demand for it, we could have running commentaries at Council meetings if, for instance, there were Members of the audience who do not speak English and who want to come in and listen, then this is a service which the Government ought to provide for them. I believe that the respective committees will be going into these proposals in greater detail. I do not believe that they will slacken on it, and it is for this reason, Mr. Chairman, that I will support the amended motion, not because I do not believe in the sentiments which have been proposed by Mr. Hu and Mr. BERNACCHI. I do subscribe to them, but I think we must try to approach this in a practical manner.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
CHAIRMAN:--Do any other Members wish to speak on the amended motion?
MR. FORSGATE:-May I just suggest a motto for the Sub-Committee, "Festina Lente: Mo Kum Faai". (Laughter).
(The Director of Public Works left the meeting at this point).
MR. JAMES WU: Mr. Chairman, I fully agree with the suggestion that we should have a running commentary over both Radio Hong Kong and Commercial Radio, because in to-day's Sing Tao Jih Pao, the Chinese newspaper, there is an article praising the Hong Kong University students for their aspiration to become Urban Council Members. This article says, "why is English spoken by Urban Council Members?” because the Urban Council only caters for scavenging and cleansing work, and I believe that if this running commentary should be taken up by Radio Hong Kong and Commercial Radio, the public of Hong Kong will get to know the scope of the Urban Council much better.
MR. HU: Mr. Chairman, I also reciprocate my admiration and respect for the sincere expressions of my Colleagues concerning my motion, although they are, as a matter of fact, against my motion as such. I also have no doubt of their sincerity. What I would say, Mr. Chairman, is that this matter has been dragging on for the last five or six years without moving even an inch further, and the purpose of my motion, of course, is to press this matter, so that it can progress. Secondly, of course, everybody probably does not see that the reason of my motion is that I want non-English speaking Members of the community to sit in this Council to serve the public, and that they can also stand for election to the Urban Council, because, Mr. Chairman, it is only in this Council we have Elected Members, and its Members up to now are only 10. Therefore, it is not fair, Mr. Chairman, to deprive the biggest majority of the population of this community of
Page 172 of 243
243
Page 171 of 243
416
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Mr. Chairman, I say that we all want the proceedings of the Council to be in Cantonese so as to attract more people to take an interest in this Council's work and to serve as Members, but as Mr. NG has rightly pointed out, it is evident to all Urban Councillors that this will not be a Council constituted of people other than English speaking persons until after 1970 because of the Urban Council Election Ordin- That is as clear as daylight. So let us be true to ourselves, let us make progress by all means and let us press for that progress as much as we can, but let us do it in the right place, the Standing Com- mittee of the Whole Council. I subscribe wholeheartedly to what Mr. Hu wants to achieve, but I think Mr. Hu will respect the attitude of our Cantonese Members who insist that this matter should be studied further in the Standing Committee of the Whole Council. (Applause).
ance.
(Mr. LI Yiu-bor left the meeting at this point).
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, it is election year, (laughter), and this motion-it sounds a bit like an election motion--but being an elected Member myself, I understand the difficulties and problems of my fellow elected Councillors, so we must make some allowances for that I, myself, am 100% behind Mr. Henry Hu and Mr. BERNACCHI in the sentiments expressed in this motion. I think we are moving ahead in that direction, and that is why we have set up the Committee known as the Sub-Committee on simultaneous translation. Whatever the difficulties are we must overcome them; but, Mr. Chairman, I think it has already been said that let us do first things first, and that is, we must prepare for the 1971 elections, which is two years from now, and for the 1971 elections we must have the Government change the Ordinance.
The present Ordinance concerning qualifications for Members of this Council, Mr. Chairman, says that candidates must be able, inter alia, to read and write the English language with a degree of pro- ficiency sufficient to enable him to take an active part in the proceedings of the Council. Now, I respectfully submit, Mr. Chairman, that in addition to the English language, the Ordinance has to be changed in order to permit a voter who wishes to run for the Urban Council to be non-English speaking. In other words, it could be amended to say "to read and write English or Chinese (Cantonese) with a degree of proficiency sufficient to enable him to take part in the deliberations of the Council". Now, unless we do that, then it would be impractical for us to introduce simultaneous translation, because then we would be only practising our Cantonese with each other. I think it is more important between now and 1971 that we should get to grips on the suggestions which have been put forward by Mr. NG, the Chairman of the Organization Committee, and Dr. Woo, on simultaneous transla- tion, and which is, first of all, that we should get Radio Hong Kong,
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
417
and not only Radio Hong Kong, but Commercial Radio as well, to carry out running commentaries in Cantonese of the deliberations of this Council. Also, as has been previously suggested, if there is a demand for it, we could have running commentaries at Council meet- ings if, for instance, there were Members of the audience who do not speak English and who want to come in and listen, then this is a service which the Government ought to provide for them. I believe that the respective committees will be going into these proposals in greater detail. I do not believe that they will slacken on it, and it is for this reason, Mr. Chairman, that I will support the amended motion, not because I do not believe in the sentiments which have been proposed by Mr. Hu and Mr. BERNACCHI. I do subscribe to them, but I think we must try to approach this in a practical manner.
CHAIRMAN:--Do any other Members wish to speak on the amended
motion?
MR. FORSGATE:-May I just suggest a motto for the Sub-Com- mittee, "Festina Lente: Mo Kum Faai". (Laughter).
(The Director of Public Works left the meeting at this point).
MR. JAMES WU: Mr. Chairman, I fully agree with the suggestion that we should have a running commentary over both Radio Hong Kong and Commercial Radio, because in to-day's Sing Tao Jih Pao, the Chinese newspaper, there is an article praising the Hong Kong Univer- sity students for their aspiration to become Urban Council Members. This article says, "why is English spoken by Urban Council Members?” because the Urban Council only caters for scavenging and cleansing work, and I believe that if this running commentary should be taken up by Radio Hong Kong and Commercial Radio, the public of Hong Kong will get to know the scope of the Urban Council much better.
MR. HU: Mr. Chairman, I also reciprocate my admiration and respect for the sincere expressions of my Colleagues concerning my motion, although they are, as a matter of fact, against my motion as such. I also have no doubt of their sincerity. What I would say, Mr. Chairman, is that this matter has been dragging on for the last five or six years without moving even an inch further, and the purpose of my motion, of course, is to press this matter, so that it can progress. Secondly, of course, everybody probably does not see that the reason of my motion is that I want non-English speaking Members of the community to sit in this Council to serve the public, and that they can also stand for election to the Urban Council, because, Mr. Chairman, it is only in this Council we have Elected Members, and its Members up to now are only 10. Therefore, it is not fair, Mr. Chairman, to deprive the biggest majority of the population of this community of
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.