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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
It is refreshing to hear that China will not allow her territory to be used for drug-trafficking and triad activities, and one can only hope that China means what she says, because similar promises made by the Hong Kong Government have never been implemented. The laws of Hong Kong specialize in providing loopholes for criminals, but do nothing to protect their victims. Those who make the laws know that they themselves will be well protected, but they care little for the rest of us.
I therefore believe that in the long-run it will not be political systems but fear of criminals that will decide the future stability of Hong Kong. Prosperity which allows criminal misappropriation of the hard-earned savings of lower-paid workers, that permits employers to shirk their responsibility towards their workers, that pretends to control vice while actually encouraging vice-mongers to carry on their nefarious activities, cannot bring permanent stability. In the short term it may seem to benefit many people, but in the long-run it merely widens the gap between rich and poor, encourages greed and criminal activity, and destroys economic and social stability. Hong Kong has repeatedly experienced the instability of this kind of economy, but has no leadership of sufficient moral principle to attempt to find a legal remedy. Hong Kong's appointed leaders are too busy making hay while the sun shines so that they can escape and enjoy themselves when the storm comes, to take any thought for the majority of the population.
These are the problems that I think should be worrying us all now, and not what is going to happen in 1997. Hong Kong should put its house in order now, and the future will take care of itself.
So far I have not mentioned the subject of this debate, the statement of aims for 1983. I doubt if the public is interested in hearing a repetition of these aims which remain more or less the same every year. Nor do I think the public wants to hear us blowing our own trumpets about what we did for them last year. The statistics and details of all our activities are well recorded in our literature, so it is not necessary to repeat them here, and send our audience and members to sleep.
As far as my own committee is concerned, I should only like to emphasize how much we owe to our staff for their organization in the libraries. I would also like to remind the Government that with nearly half the population living in public housing, they should do much more to provide all-day study rooms in estates, in order to attract children to study and keep them away from criminal influences.
On cultural affairs, I must express concern at the enormous amount of money being spent on bringing musicians and performing companies from western countries. The budget for this item in the coming year is $11.5 million. Perhaps western cultural activities, which are necessary to some extent, should be self-supporting. The money thus saved could be used to bring in popular groups and companies from Asia and our neighbouring Chinese-speaking countries. 98% of the population is of Chinese culture, and there is clearly a case for spending 98% of our cultural activities budget on local talent or on programmes likely to be appreciated by the local people. I hope that serious consideration will be given to this proposal.
I support the motion.
MR. KENNETH T. C. Lo (in English): Mr. Chairman, I rise to support the motion before the Council.
Before dealing with local recreational matters, I would like to say something about the visit which I made to London in May last year. This was at the invitation of the United Kingdom Sports Council. Two delegates from Hong Kong, namely Mr. David CHIU of the Recreation and Sports Service and myself representing the Urban Council, were invited to attend an international sports conference organized by them and had the privilege of addressing the conference.
Judging from the questions at the conference itself and also in casual conversation outside, there was considerable interest in Hong Kong. The general impression was that Hong Kong was a very overcrowded place with slums and high-rise concrete buildings, with hardly any thought given to recreational facilities. The Hong Kong delegates did something to correct this view. We showed some coloured slides and let the conference see that although facilities were far from adequate, at least they did exist and considerable thought and effort were being given to improving them.
We showed how here in Hong Kong we tackled the lack of space by more intensive use. The other delegates found this interesting and possibly of some relevance to their problems. They seemed particularly interested in our games halls and recreational facilities within multi-purpose buildings.
For my part, I also found much of interest in what the other delegates had to say. Of course, not all that we were told about had relevance to Hong Kong. For instance, one speaker described how an old warehouse building which had not been in use for many years was converted by nearby residents into a games hall and recreation centre. That may be the best way in that particular area of England. I think in the same situation we would probably have pulled down the old building and built a new one.
What I found most interesting was the address by Mr. Kenneth SAXTON, formerly the Director, Resource Planning, of the Welsh Water Authority. This concerned the use of reservoirs and their surrounding areas for recreational purposes. We were told that the traditional attitude of the water supply industry towards the recreational use of water space had always been dominated by concern about water-borne disease. In the nineteenth century, cholera and typhoid were very real threats. Water had to be maintained pure and unpolluted. The simplest way to maintain that purity had been to eliminate
Page 90 of 142
137
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 91 of 142
Page 90 of 142
136
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
It is refreshing to hear that China will not allow her territory to be used for drug-trafficking and triad activities, and one can only hope that China means what she says, because similar promises made by the Hong Kong Government have never been implemented. The laws of Hong Kong specialize in providing loopholes for criminals, but do nothing to protect their victims. Those who make the laws know that they themselves will be well protected, but they little for the rest of us.
care
I therefore believe that in the long-run it will not be political systems but fear of criminals that will decide the future stability of Hong Kong. Prosperity which allows criminal misappropriation of the hard-earned savings of lower-paid workers, that permits employers to shirk their responsibility towards their workers, that pretends to control vice while actually encouraging vice-mongers to carry on their nefarious activities, cannot bring permanent stability. In the short term it may seem to benefit many people, but in the long-run it merely widens the gap between rich and poor, encourages greed and criminal activity, and destroys economic and social stability. Hong Kong has repeatedly experienced the instability of this kind of economy, but has no leadership of sufficient moral principle to attempt to find a legal remedy. Hong Kong's appointed leaders are too busy making hay while the sun shines so that they can escape and enjoy themselves when the storm comes, to take any thought for the majority of the population.
These are the problems that I think should be worrying us all now, and not what is going to happen in 1997. Hong Kong should put its house in order now, and the future will take care of itself.
So far I have not mentioned the subject of this debate, the statement of aims for 1983. I doubt if the public is interested in hearing a repetition of these aims which remain more or less the same every year. Nor do I think the public wants to hear us blowing our own trumpets about what we did for them last year. The statistics and details of all our activities are well recorded in our literature, so it is not necessary to repeat them here, and send our audience and members to sleep.
As far as my own committee is concerned, I should only like to emphasize how much we owe to our staff for their organization in the libraries. I would also like to remind the Government that with nearly half the population living in public housing, they should do much more to provide all-day study rooms in estates, in order to attract children to study and keep away from criminal influences.
On cultural affairs, I must express concern at the enormous amount of money being spent on bringing musicians and performing companies from western countries. The budget for this item in the coming year is $11.5 million. Perhaps western cultural activities, which are necessary to some extent, should be self- supporting. The money thus saved could be used to bring in popular groups and companies from Asia and our neighbouring Chinese-speaking countries. 98%
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 90 of 142
137
of the population is of Chinese culture, and there is clearly a case for spending 98% of our cultural activities budget on local talent or on programmes likely to be appreciated by the local people. I hope that serious consideration will be given to this proposal.
I support the motion.
MR. KENNETH T. C. Lo (in English): Mr. Chairman, I rise to support the motion before the Council.
Before dealing with local recreational matters, I would like to say something about the visit which I made to London in May last year. This was at the invitation of the United Kingdom Sports Council. Two delegates from Hong Kong namely Mr. David CHIU of the Recreation and Sports Service and myself representing the Urban Council were invited to attend an international sports conference organized by them and had the privilege of addressing the
conference.
Judging from the question at the conference itself and also in casual conversation outside there was considerable interest in Hong Kong. The general impression was that Hong Kong was a very overcrowded place with slums and high rise concrete buildings, with hardly any thought given to recreational facilities. The Hong Kong delegates did something to correct this view. We showed some coloured slides and let the conference see that although facilities were far from adequate, at least they did exist and considerable thought and effort was being given to improving them.
We showed how here in Hong Kong we tackled the lack of space by more intensive use. The other delegates found this interesting and possibly of some relevance to their problems. They seemed particularly interested in our games halls and recreational facilities within multi purpose buildings.
For my part, I also found much of interest in what the other delegates had to say. Of course not all that we were told about had relevance to Hong Kong. For instance, one speaker described how an old warehouse building which had not been in use for many years, was converted by nearby residents into a games hall and recreation centre. That may be the best way in that particular area of England. I think in the same situation we would probably have pulled down the old building and built a new one.
What I found most interesting was the address by Mr. Kenneth SAXTON, formerly the Director, Resource Planning, of the Welsh Water Authority. This concerned the use of reservoirs and their surrounding areas for recreational purposes. We were told that the traditional attitude of the water supply industry towards the recreational use of water space had always been dominated by concern about water-borne disease. In the nineteenth century, cholera and typhoid were very real threats. Water had to be maintained pure and un- polluted. The simplest way to maintain that purity had been to eliminate
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