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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
My third point concerns the leadership of this Council.
Ever since we were informed that our budgets for the next two or three years would be in deficit and that in order to keep up our service to the public, the Council would have to run down its reserves (by the end of the 1985 financial year, we will have less than 10 days reserve) I have been asking for a free and thorough debate to reconsider where our priorities should lie, what we should be spending money on and where we should be cutting down. This has consistently been stalled by the senior members of this Council, presumably because it is seen as an attack on their authority which is exercised via the Chairmanships of our select Committees. I have no quarrel with this system of select Committees. However this system can only work when there is strong overall leadership, which I am afraid we are lacking at the moment. We are following patterns set years ago which are now out of date and which should be changed. We need a thorough reappraisal of what this Council is about, how we do things, whether we should go on doing them, and whether we should be steered by Government or whether we should be steering Government.
We should also discuss how to restructure these presently sterile open sessions of the Council. Instead of circumscribing discussion and debate by artificial strictures such as our present question time. I suggest that debate is encouraged. Less consensus and more contention would bring some life and new ideas into this Council.
Under a previous Chairman, this Council gave strong leadership to this Community and to Government. In many cases, that leadership dragged a small town provincial public and civil service screaming into the big City. But now this Council does not lead, it follows: You may well ask me to spell out where there is a shortfall of leadership. The most obvious example is the way the leadership of this Council constantly knuckles down to Government. Let me just instance three items:
(1) When Government tells us that we can't have more money to build much needed community centres in various districts which are urgently asked for by District Boards, our leadership shrugs its shoulders and takes this lying down and we members then have to deal with irate District Board members. This is all wrong. We should be fighting for the District Boards and our rights in these matters. There is lots of waste in Government there is lots of waste in money ill spent (I have already instanced the E.R.P., which is only one of many). Just look at the Government Auditor's Report in today's newspaper. Sufficient pressure would make money available and I see no reason why we should not fight for getting our full share of Government's shareout.
(2) Our leadership has accepted meekly Government's decision to forbid the Urban Council to charge for its services at its own discretion. For instance, our liquor licences are far too cheap, especially when compared to motor car licences where Government has for political reasons contravened its own principle that licences should not raise income but only pay expenses. I believe this Council should be allowed, for similar political reasons, to raise liquor licence fees so that we do raise some income to pay for some of our other licencing expenses where we cannot afford to do so, such as hawker licences etc. And there are other fees which should be similarly increased whereas some should be lowered.
(3) For the last three years I have been suggesting a proper management investigation unit to be run by members of this Council to look at the operations of U.S.D. but our present leadership has always bowed to U.S.D.'s adamant refusal to have any of the Councillors join such an investigative process.
These are just three instances where I believe leadership is badly lacking and I could add many more as I am sure could other members, and especially those members who do not have entrenched seniority, as for instance how we are pushed around by Government in the matter of building or rather not building a proper Art Museum.
It is time that we all sat down and thought about what we are doing here and what we are supposed to be doing here. I again ask for an open freewheeling debate to thrash out our priorities, to define where we should lead the community, to define where we should lead the Government, to stir all Councillors, be they elected or appointed, out of their present complacency. It is all very well to have this pleasant club with everybody nice and friendly but this is not what we are about. It is time that we stand up from these comfortable seats and do battle with Servility, Apathy and Complacency and refuse to take 'No' for an answer!
Sir, in spite of the motion before Council not going far enough, I support this as being better than nothing.
MR. L. H. KWAN (in English):-Mr. Chairman, as we are aware, the problems of hawkers exist in Hong Kong for a number of years and it had caused a great concern from members of the public as well as the Urban Council, of which the Council has spent much money and time in dealing with the question of hawkers. Within the last 30 years our population has increased rapidly and so the number of hawkers also increases.
The present Urban Council aims are as follows:
(a) To seek a gradual reduction in street trading as circumstances permit.
(b) To obtain suitable off-road sites wherever possible and to construct appropriate buildings, either temporary or permanent, into which to move street traders.
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 133 of 194
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
My third point concerns the leadership of this Council.
Ever since we were informed that our budgets for the next two or three
years would be in deficit and that in order to keep up our service to the public, the Council would have to run down its reserves (by the end of the 1985 financial year, we will have less than 10 days reserve) I have been asking for a free and thorough debate to reconsider where our priorities should lie, what we should be spending money on and where we should be cutting down. This has consistently been stalled by the senior members of this Council, presumably because it is seen as an attack on their authority which is exercised via the Chairmanships of our select Committees. I have no quarrel with this system of select Committees. However this system can only work when there is strong overall leadership, which I am afraid we are lacking at the moment. We are following patterns set years ago which are now out of date and which should be changed. We need a thorough reappraisal of what this Council is about, how we do things, whether we should go on doing them, and whether we should be steered by Government or whether we should be steering Government.
We should also discuss how to restructure these presently sterile open sessions of the Council. Instead of circumscribing discussion and debate by artificial strictures such as our present question time. I suggest that debate is encouraged. Less consensus and more contention would bring some life and new ideas into this Council.
Under a previous Chairman, this Council gave strong leadership to this Community and to Government. In many cases, that leadership dragged a small town provincial public and civil service screaming into the big City. But now this Council does not lead, it follows: You may well ask me to spell out where there is a shortfall of leadership. The most obvious example is the way the leadership of this Council constantly knuckles down to Government. Let me just instance three items:
(1) When Government tells us that we can't have more money to build much needed community centres in various districts which are urgently asked for by District Boards, our leadership shrugs its shoulders and takes this lying down and we members then have to deal with irate District Board members. This is all wrong. We should be fighting for the District Boards and our rights in these matters. There is lots of waste in Government there is lots of waste in money ill spent (I have already instanced the E.R.P., which is only one of many). Just look at the Government Auditor's Report in today's newspaper. Sufficient pressure would make money available and I see no reason why we should not fight for getting our full share of Government's shareout.
(2) Our leadership has accepted meckly Government's decision to forbid the Urban Council to charge for its services at its own discretion. For instance, our liquor licences are far too cheap, especially when compared
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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to motor car licences where Government has for political reasons contravened its own principle that licences should not raise income but only pay expenses. I believe this Council should be allowed, for similar political reasons, to raise liquor licence fees so that we do raise some income to pay for some of our other licencing expenses where we cannot afford to do so, such as hawker licences etc. And there are other fees which should be similarly increased whereas some should be lowered.
(3) For the last three years I have been suggesting a proper management investigation unit to be run by members of this Council to look at the operations of U.S.D. but our present leadership has always bowed to U.S.D.'s adamant refusal to have any of the Councillors join such an investigative process.
These are just three instances where I believe leadership is badly lacking and I could add many more as I am sure could other members, and especially those members who do not have entrenched seniority, as for instance how we are pushed around by Government in the matter of building or rather not building a
proper Art Museum.
It is time that we all sat down and thought about what we are doing here and what we are supposed to be doing here. I again ask for an open freewheeling debate to thrash out our priorities, to define where we should lead the community, to define where we should lead the Government, to stir all Councillors, be they elected or appointed, out of their present complacency. It is all very well to have this pleasant club with everybody nice and friendly but this is not what we are about. It is time that we stand up from these comfortable seats and do battle with Servility, Apathy and Complacency and refuse to take 'No' for an answer!
Sir, in spite of the motion before Council not going far enough, I support this as being better than nothing.
MR. L. H. KWAN (in English):-Mr. Chairman, as we are aware, the problems of hawkers exist in Hong Kong for a number of years and it had caused a great concern from members of the public as well as the Urban Council, of which the Council has spent much money and time in dealing with the question of hawkers. Within the last 30 years our population has increased rapidly and so the number of hawkers also increases.
The present Urban Council aims are as follows:
(a) To seek a gradual reduction in street trading as circumstances permit. (b) To obtain suitable off-road sites wherever possible and to construct appropriate buildings, either temporary or permanent, into which to move street traders.
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