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appeal body which is not at the same time, more representative than the Council. If it is intended to set up the 'Appeal Body on Municipal Affairs' to judge whether the Council is adjudicating in accordance with the principle of natural justice, then the proposed body should be composed of judges. Instead of being an administrative body appointed by the government to undertake work of judicial nature, the proposed body should constitute a part of the judiciary. In short, delegation of the final administrative decision-making power in relation to municipal affairs to the Urban Council is not a matter of whether one is adjudicating in accordance with the principle of natural justice, but whether power should be devolved from the Central Government. The government's proposal will only slow down the handling process of appeal cases. And, instead of making impartial judgement on appeal cases lodged by the public, it will only bring the Urban Council and the Urban Services Department unnecessary troubles if it is left for someone to implement policies with which they are not familiar.
(3) Urban Council and District Boards: The Basic Law is gradually drawing out the whole central government system to be adopted in Hong Kong. It is believed that structure of and relationship between the Urban Council and District Boards will once again become a popular subject of discussion when the Basic Law is announced in 1990. I, however, believe that there will be two possibilities: (1) the Urban Council and District Boards will maintain their status quo for the time being; and (2) both the Urban Council and District Boards will be abolished and replaced by district bodies at an intermediate level to discharge on geographical basis the duties now performed by the Executive Council and District Boards. I would like to suggest the following ways to strengthen the work of the Council in the districts before any outcome of the 2 possibilities is known.
When 10 indirectly elected representatives from District Boards joined the Urban Council in 1989, working parties should be set up under the Council by both directly and indirectly elected Councillors corresponding to their own constituencies. Should there be important decisions or issues in relation to municipal affairs in a certain district, the relevant working party can propose concrete ideas to facilitate the Council to solve the problems. At ordinary times, these working parties should be responsible for approving and coordinating proposals on culture, entertainment, sports and other municipal activities of the related districts before submitting them to the Council's relevant Select Committees for final decision. Funds should also be allocated to these working parties individually to facilitate district bodies to apply for joint organization of activities. Efforts should also be made to organize more activities in direct cooperation with District Boards.
Mr. Chairman, as I have mentioned at the beginning of my speech, I am not going to stand for the Urban Council election which will be held in March. But this is absolutely no retirement. I leave the Council just because I want to take a break. We play different roles at different stages of life. We of course need
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Councillors to play the roles of actors/actresses on the political scene, but it is not necessary for all drama lovers to become actors/actresses. We need enthusiastic ones to write the script and do the work of director, stage management, lighting and stage properties; and we also need enthusiastic audience to cheer up the actors. I, as a genuine drama lover, do not mind playing different roles at different times.
Mr. Chairman, I support your motion.
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG (in English):—
1. Introduction
Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to continue raising the issue of tobacco sponsorship relating to sports and arts events. In last year's annual debate, I submitted to the Council that tobacco sponsorship is a form of sales promotion. It is now widely known that smoking is hazardous to health, and it is the greatest single preventable cause of ill health and death. Our strategy in discouraging smoking comprises three principal components; namely, to encourage smokers to quit, to prevent the recruitment of new smokers, especially from the youth, and to protect the health of non-smokers. Cigarette promotion has been marketed on images undeniably aimed at recruitment of new smokers from the youth group. It should be our objective to curb this kind of promotion by breaking the association of smoking with social success, glamour, wealth and sporting prowess. One of the methods of achieving this is by banning altogether any form of tobacco sponsorship.
The issue of tobacco sponsorship was subsequently discussed in the Council several times this year. In general, due to financial reasons, many people are reluctant to turn down tobacco sponsorship. Urban Council is a public body which is also deeply involved with public health matters and should set an example by not being seen to promote the harmful tobacco products. Therefore, I have been proposing to the Council, since last year, not to accept sponsorship from companies that have tobacco products.
2. Real Problem in Restricting Tobacco Sponsorship
In the various discussions, many people argued that to ban tobacco sponsorship would cripple the country's sporting and cultural life which now survives with the help of tobacco money. It may be true that in Hong Kong, a great deal of the arts activities over the last few years has come about because of their sponsorship. This is the major difficulty in refusing tobacco sponsorship. It is essential that we acknowledge this problem and then figure out a way to solve it. This is basically a financial consideration. On the health issue, I believe most people would agree with the government's statement: 'Cigarette smoking is hazardous to health.'
3. Solution to the Problem
Is there a solution to solve this financial problem without hurting the cultural and sport bodies and yet stopping tobacco sponsorship? Some countries such as
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
appeal body which is not at the same time, more representative than the Coun- cil. If it is intended to set up the 'Appeal Body on Municipal Affairs' to judge whether the Council is adjudicating in accordance with the principle of natural justice, then the proposed body should be composed of judges. Instead of being an administrative body appointed by the government to undertake work of ju- dicial nature, the proposed body should constitute a part of the judiciary. In short, delegation of the final administrative decision-making power in relation to municipal affairs to the Urban Council is not a matter of whether one is adjudicating in accordance with the principle of natural justice, but whether power should be devolved from the Central Government. The government's proposal will only slow down the handling process of appeal cases. And, instead of making impartial judgement on appeal cases lodged by the public, it will only bring the Urban Council and the Urban Services Department unnecessary troubles if it is left for someone to implement policies with which they are not familiar.
(3) Urban Council and District Boards: The Basic Law is gradually drawing out the whole central government system to be adopted in Hong Kong. It is be- lieved that structure of and relationship between the Urban Council and Dis- trict Boards will once again become a popular subject of discussion when the Basic Law is announced in 1990. I, however, believe that there will be two possibilities: (1) the Urban Council and District Boards will maintain their status quo for the time being; and (2) both the Urban Council and District Boards will be abolished and replaced by district bodies at an intermediate level to discharge on geographical basis the duties now performed by the Executive Council and District Boards. I would like to suggest the following ways to strengthen the work of the Council in the districts before any outcome of the 2 possibilities is known.
When 10 indirectly elected representatives from District Boards joined the Urban Council in 1989, working parties should be set up under the Council by both directly and indirectly elected Councillors corresponding to their own con- stituencies. Should there be important decisions or issues in relation to munici- pal affairs in a certain district, the relevant working party can propose concrete ideas to facilitate the Council to solve the problems. At ordinary times, these working parties should be responsible for approving and coordinating proposals on culture, entertainment, sports and other municipal activities of the related districts before submitting them to the Council's relevant Select Committees for final decision. Funds should also be allocated to these working parties individually to facilitate district bodies to apply for joint organization of activities. Efforts should also be made to organize more activities in direct cooperation with District Boards.
Mr. Chairman, as I have mentioned at the beginning of my speech, I am not going to stand for the Urban Council election which will be held in March. But this is absolutely no retirement. I leave the Council just because I want to take a break. We play different roles at different stages of life. We of course need
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 144 of 182
279
Councillors to play the roles of actors/actresses on the political scene, but it is not necessary for all drama lovers to become actors/actresses. We need en- thusiastic ones to write the script and do the work of director, stage manage- ment, lighting and stage properties; and we also need enthusiastic audience to cheer up the actors. I, as a genuine drama lover, do not mind playing different roles at different times.
Mr. Chairman, I support your motion.
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG (in English):—
1. Introduction
Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to continue raising the issue of tobacco sponsorship relating to sports and arts events. In last year's annual debate, I submitted to the Council that tobacco sponsorship is a form of sales promotion. It is now widely known that smoking in hazardous to health, and it is the greatest single preventable causes of ill health and death. Our strategy in discouraging smoking comprises three principal components; namely, to en- courage smokers to quit, to prevent the recruitment of new smokers, especially from the youth, and to protect the health of non-smokers. Cigarette promotion has been marketted on images undeniably aimed at recruitment of new smokers from the youth group. It should be our objective to curb this kind of promotion by breaking the association of smoking with social success, glamour, wealth and sporting prowess. One of the methods of achieving this is by banning altogether any form of tobacco sponsorship.
The issue of tobacco sponsorship was subsequently discussed in the Council several times this year. In general, due to financial reasons, many people are re- luctant to turn down tobacco sponsorship. Urban Council is a public body which is also deeply involved with public health matters and should set example by not being seen to promote the harmful tobacco products. Therefore, I have been proposing to the Council, since last year, not to accept sponsorship from companies that have tobacco products.
2. Real Problem in Restricting Tobacco Sponsorship
In the various discussions, many people argued that to ban tobacco sponsor- ship would cripple the country's sporting and cultural life which now survives with the help of tobacco money. It may be true that in Hong Kong, a great deal of the arts activities over the last few years has come about because of their sponsorship. This is the major difficulty in refusing tobacco sponsorship. It is essential that we acknowledge this problem and then figure out a way to solve it. This is basically a financial consideration. On the health issue, I believe most people would agree with government's statement: 'Cigarette smoking is haz- ardous to health.'
3.
Solution to the Problem
Is there a solution to solve this financial problem without hurting the cultural and sport bodies and yet stopping tobacco sponsorship? Some countries such as
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