Page 117 of 195
202
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MRS. NELLIE FONG (in English):—Mr. Chairman, first, let me commend the Government on a job well done. On balance, I believe Hong Kong has faired well in a year that could have been a very difficult one. If I can allocate my praise, I would give a large share to the area supervised by our soon to retire Financial Secretary. Without the relative strength of the Hong Kong Dollar in relation to its link, the speculators would have been on the prowl and all of us would have suffered the consequences. Courage in defending a system which works is typical of Hong Kong's past and we saw a perfect application of it in the monetary sector in 1985.
The defense of a system requires also that the system be purged of destructive elements. It also requires openness to give confidence to the public at large. Some happenings during the year left me with a feeling that more could have been done on accountability to the public. An example of this is the scandal that surfaced regarding the defects in large numbers of housing estates. Although I think that an investigation is being made, I believe it would have been appropriate for reports to be made public, indicating who the contractors were and whether there were any links between the cases, or whatever. The fact is that the public's money is used to finance these works and its confidence would be raised if it heard some frank facts. I would also encourage the press to be more helpful in performing its role of seeking out and publishing facts that will help to bolster public confidence.
Another area in which I would encourage more action by the Government is in curbing the excesses of some of our shopkeepers in their dealings with tourists and even with some of us locals. Many of the schemes are well known and openly discussed, but most of the repeating offenders are still in business. Can we not do something to avoid a blemish which can eventually damage our reputation as an exciting and worthwhile city for tourists to visit and spend their money in. As we all know, when the reputation is lost, the damage lasts for a long time. The negative effect can begin overnight and recovery can take many years. We have a fabulous city that has already earned a place for itself in history through free trading and fair dealing. Let us make sure we do not destroy it now.
Another thing I must talk about is Kai Tak Airport. The immigration sector is really a disaster area. The manual checking of names in the two black books is not really a fair image for Hong Kong. Do we really need such time-consuming control on persons leaving the Colony? In many countries, those leaving just walk out. For example, in the U.S. the airline takes your immigration slip and you do not even see an immigration officer. In the U.K., on the other hand, you see an officer but he just glances at your passport. If we could go just half way between our system and theirs, it would be helpful.
Once more on immigration, but this time on the inflow. I would like to caution our Government to minimize the inflow at this time. Our economy is not in difficulties but we could be creating a future pool of unemployed, that may be some of our own people, who are displaced by new arrivals.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 117 of 195
203
Still with Kai Tak, the security check equipment that we use is appalling. The hoisting of carrier bags and suit carries into the pre-world war II type x-ray that looks like an oven for cooking pizzas, the manual physical inspection of the contents of the carrier bags are hassles that one can do without. Could we not get some modern equipment like that which all other airports I have visited seemed to have had for years?
Before closing, I would like to focus quickly on some areas of optimism. We have had problems of serious crime (armed robbery and crimes against the person) that alarmed us and that some of us felt were stretching our police force's crime control capabilities to the limit. Recent developments have, however, given us reason for much comfort in this area. The city traffic problems have at times frustrated us all, but traffic flows quite well overall and the impending commencement of work of the second cross harbour tunnel is a notable step in the direction of progress.
I am optimistic and I expect to remain so. However, I recognize the enormity of the task in the years immediately ahead and I ask what are the principal ways in which we can nurture optimism in the immediate future. As I see it, for optimism to exist at the lower levels requires entrepreneurs and investment (both local and imported) to create new job opportunities and wealth. For entrepreneurs and investment to decide to come to Hong Kong, or even to stay in Hong Kong, requires confidence and the expectation of conditions for profitable operations.
To the extent we lose investment or lose entrepreneurs, we will have to re-double our efforts to attract both from abroad, or we will have to accept the fact that our economy will enter a phase of decline. The Government can set the tone for this through confidence-building measures and the ones most readily at its disposal is in the fiscal area. Let us keep our tax system simple, let us not write ambiguous clauses into our tax laws and let us consider giving selective incentives to healthy new enterprises now, while the going is good, rather than trying to implement them and getting people excited about them when we have already suffered some of the consequences of economic decline.
Thank you.
MR. TONG KAM-BIU (in Cantonese):--Mr. Chairman, I will talk about two topics today. Although these two topics express my general views and I want to be an expert rather than the silent ones.
On hawkers
As other cities in developing countries, hawking is a unique and time-honoured trade in Hong Kong. It is the simplest and most practical among the retail trades. In many cities in the developing countries, street hawkers become less and less or even disappear following economic development, but not in Hong Kong. On the contrary, with the rapid economic development in Hong Kong, it appears the street hawkers will continue to play an important role in the
Page 117 of 195
should be
Page 118 of 195
Page 117 of 19
Page 117 of 195
202
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MRS. NELLIE FONG (in English):—Mr. Chairman, first, let me commend the Government on a job well done. On balance, I believe Hong Kong has faired well in a year that could have been a very difficult one. If I can allocate
my praise, I would give a large share to the area supervised by our soon to retire Financial Secretary. Without the relative strength of the Hong Kong Dollar in relation to its link, the speculators would have been on the prowl and all of us would have suffered the consequences. Courage in defending a system which works is typical of Hong Kong's past and we saw a perfect application of it in the monetary sector in 1985.
The defense of a system requires also that the system be purged of destructive elements. It also requires openness to give confidence to the public at large. Some happenings during the year left me with a feeling that more could have been done on accountability to the public. An example of this is the scandal that surfaced regarding the defects in large numbers of housing estates. Although I think that an investigation is being made, I believe it would have been appropriate for reports to be made public, indicating who the contractors were and whether there were any links between the cases, or whatever. The fact is that the public's money is used to finance these works and its confidence would be raised if it heard some frank facts. I would also encourage the press to be more helpful in performing its role of seeking out and publishing facts that will help to bolster public confidence.
Another area in which I would encourage more action by the Government is in curbing the excesses of some of our shopkeepers in their dealings with tourists and even with some of us locals. Many of the schemes are well known and openly discussed, but most of the repeating offenders are still in business. Can we not do something to avoid a blemish which can eventually damage our reputation as an exciting and worthwhile city for tourists to visit and spend their money in. As we all know, when the reputation is lost, the damage lasts for a long time. The negative effect can begin overnight and recovery can take many years. We have a fabulous city that has already earned a place for itself in history through free trading and fair dealing. Let us make sure we do not destroy it now.
Another thing I must talk about is Kai Tak Airport. The immigration sector is really a disaster area. The manual checking of names in the two black books is not really a fair image for Hong Kong. Do we really need such time consuming control on persons leaving the Colony? In many countries, those leaving just walk out. For example, in the U.S. the airline takes your immigration slip and you do not even see an immigration officer. In the U.K., on the other hand, you see an officer but he just glances at your passport. If we could go just half way between our system and theirs, it would be helpful.
Once more on immigration, but this time on the inflow. I would like to caution our Government to minimize the inflow at this time. Our economy is not in difficulties but we could be creating a future pool of unemployed, that may be some of our own people, who are displaced by new arrivals.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 117 of 195
203
Still with Kai Tak, the security check equipment that we use is appalling. The hoisting of carrier bags and suit carries into the pre-world war II type x-ray that looks like an oven for cooking pizzas, the manual physical inspection of the contents of the carrier bags are hazzles that one can do without. Could we not get some modern equipment like that which all other airports I have visited seemed to have had for years?
Before closing, I would like to focus quickly on some areas of optimism. We have had problems of serious crime (armed robbery and crimes against the person) that alarmed us and that some of us felt were stretching our police force's crime control capabilities to the limit. Recent developments have, however, given us reason for much comfort in this area. The city traffic problems have at times frustrated us all, but traffic flows quite well overall and the impending commencement of work of the second cross harbour tunnel is a notable step in the direction of progress.
I am optimistic and I expect to remain so. However, I recognize the enormity of the task in the years immediately ahead and I ask what are the principal ways in which we can nurture optimism in the immediate future. As I see it, for optimism to exist at the lower levels requires entrepreneurs and investment (both local and imported) to create new job opportunities and wealth. For entrepreneurs and investment to decide to come to Hong Kong, or even to stay in Hong Kong, requires confidence and the expectation of conditions for profitable operations.
To the extent we lose investment or lose entrepreneurs, we will have to re- double our efforts to attract both from abroad, or we will have to accept the fact that our economy will enter a phase of decline. The Government can set the tone for this through confidence building measures and the ones most readily at its disposal is in the fiscal area. Let us keep our tax system simple, let us not write ambiguous clauses into our tax laws and let us consider giving selective incentives to healthy new enterprises now, while the going is good, rather than trying to implement them and getting people excited about them when we have already suffered some of the consequences of economic decline.
Thank you.
MR. TONG KAM-BIU (in Cantonese):--Mr. Chairman, I will talk about two topics today. Although these two topics express my general views and I want to be an expert rather than the silent ones.
On hawkers
As other cities in developing countries, hawking is a unique and time-honoured trade in Hong Kong. It is the simplest and most practical among the retail trades. In many cities in the developing countries, street hawkers become less and less or even disappear following economic development, but not in Hong Kong. On the contrary, with the rapid economic development in Hong Kong, it appears the street hawkers will continue to play an important role in the
Page 117 of 19.
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