Page 130 of 166
246
Thirdly:
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Are we managing this communication function correctly? Is our public relations structure appropriate for its functions? Do we need to bring in PR or Corporate Identity consultants who can, inter alia, provide the Council with an 'external' point of view?
I believe we administer the function well, but I suspect that we often fail to respond in a way which shows us to care or to be professionals running a large and diverse organization.
In summary, I would propose a thorough examination of:
1. How the Council and its operations are perceived.
2. How our image is planned strategically; and how it is managed.
3. Whether our image and the banners under which our operations are promoted, are correct and if they should be overhauled.
4. How our information and public relations structure is organized.
I believe the Council through its executive arm, the Urban Services Department, discharges its responsibility adequately and diligently. There is, of course, room for improvement; nonetheless Hong Kong has been well served by this Council for many years.
But it would be quite wrong for us to believe that the future of the Urban Council will rely solely on the way we manage our services. It will not. The Council will be judged equally on how we are seen to manage them, and how as a body, we are perceived. This is just as much a fact of life in the non-profit making sector as it is in the commercial sector. We must recognize this and face up to the need to gain recognition for the Council and its services as well as gaining full credit for its manifold achievements.
With these remarks, Sir, I support your motion.
MR. PAUL YOUNG TZE-KONG (in English):—Mr. Chairman, for almost a century and up to recent years, the Urban Council has played a major role in servicing the people of Hong Kong. The quality of its physical facilities ranked amongst the highest in the region and compare very favourably to similar ones in the developed countries. The Council's contribution and those involved should be well recognized and credited for in the process of developing a representative government in Hong Kong.
I shall now briefly comment as follow some areas of the Council where changes should rationalize as well as making the Council even more responsive to the community. Recent self-excision of the Council on its policy-making function in the area of public health is an example of further retrenchment in the function of the Council in recent years. In view of the high degree of autonomy the Council enjoys and the impending changes in our political structure, the above loss should be another signal sufficient for the Council itself to reexamine, firstly its future role and goals. Secondly the method and order of prioritizing decisions made between various select committees from a global point of view. Thirdly the Council's external relationship and coordination with other departments and bodies in Hong Kong and elsewhere.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
247
For example, recent invitation by the Social Welfare Department to give views on the 'Social Welfare into the 90's and beyond' provides a good opportunity for the Council to further demonstrate its responsiveness and interdepartmental cooperation in meeting the needs of the community. Council's response could enhance public confidence. Hong Kong, after all, is a big and modern city. Beside the importance of reviewing the philosophy underlying its education, health and welfare, its industrial base in the process of maintaining its economic strength and potential, Hong Kong's economic attractiveness to local and foreign investments will largely depend on continuous sound and balanced execution and improvement of service provided by its municipal government, a forward-looking and courageous municipal legislature and an independent judiciary for the interest of its general public and the society as a whole.
In view of the remaining few years before the change in sovereignty in 1997 and the scant attention paid to the Urban Council in the Draft Basic Law, reflection on the future role and function of the Council is urgent and should not be neglected. Neither should the present role and function of the Council constrain the exploration of a more comprehensive role and function that the Urban Council could play in the years to come. It is therefore URGENT that the Urban Council itself should prepare a proposal on its future role and function and present the proposal as soon as possible to the government and the relevant body that will launch the SAR government on the 1st of July 1997.
With the above, I support the motion.
MR. JASON YEUNG KING-YUK (in English):—
The Urban Council and its Role in Local Heritage Conservation
Mr. Chairman, as a new member to the Council, carrying the background of being an architect as well as the immediate Past Chairman of the Antiquities Advisory Board, I would like to take the opportunity of this annual debate to offer some of my observations and questions on the role of the Urban Council in the local scene of heritage conservation.
While the Council should indeed be congratulated on having successfully taken away the once ugly description of Hong Kong as being a ‘Cultural Desert', by providing, over the past 30 years, a wide range of such modern cultural facilities as museums, libraries and cultural centres by which the citizens' cultural life has been much elevated to a sophisticated international level, one should also be cautious that this cultural civilization should not have been built on superficial sand dunes but on good foundations deeply anchored to the historic past.
Page 130
Page 131
Page 131 of 166
Page 130 of 166
246
Thirdly:
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Are we managing this communication function correctly? Is our public relations structure appropriate for its functions? Do we need to bring in PR or Corporate Identity consultants who can, inter alia, provide the Council with an 'external' point of view?
I believe we administer the function well, but I suspect that we often fail to respond in a way which shows us to care or to be professionals running a large and diverse organization.
In summary, I would propose a thorough examination of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
How the Council and its operations are perceived.
How our image is planned strategically; and how it is managed. Whether our image and the banners under which our operations are promoted, are correct and if they should be overhauled.
and, How our information and public relations structure is organized.
I believe the Council through its executive arm, the Urban Services Department, discharges its responsibility adequately and diligently. There is, of course, room for improvement; nonetheless Hong Kong has been well served by this Council for many years.
But it would be quite wrong for us to believe that the future of the Urban Council will rely solely on the way we manage our services. It will not. The Council will be judged equally on how we are seen to manage them, and how as a body, we are perceived. This is just as much a fact of life in the non-profit making sector as it is in the commercial sector. We must recognize this and face up to the need to gain recognition for the Council and its services as well as gaining full credit for its manifold achievements.
With these remarks, Sir, I support your motion.
MR. PAUL YOUNG TZE-KONG (in English):-Mr. Chairman, for almost a century and up to recent years, the Urban Council has played a major role in servicing the people of Hong Kong. The quality of its physical facilities ranked amongst the highest in the region and compare very favourably to similar one in the developed countries. The Council's contribution and those involved should be well recognized and credited for in the process of developing a representative government in Hong Kong.
I shall now briefly comment as follow some areas of the Council where changes should rationalize as well as making the Council even more responsive to the community. Recent self excision of the Council on its policy making function in the area of public health is an example of further retrenchment in the function of the Council in recent years. In view of the high degree of autonomy the Council enjoys and the impending changes in our political structure, the above loss should be another signal sufficient for the Council itself to reexamine, firstly its future role and goals. Secondly the method and order of
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
247
prioritizing decisions made between various select committees from a global point of view. Thirdly the Council's external relationship and coordination with other departments and bodies in Hong Kong and elsewhere. For example recent invitation by the Social Welfare Department to give views on the 'Social Welfare into the 90's and beyond' provides a good opportunity for the Council to further demonstrate its responsiveness and interdepartmental cooperation in meeting the needs of the community. Council's response could enhance public confidence. Hong Kong afterall is a big and modern city. Beside the importance of reviewing the philosophy underlying its education, health and welfare, its industrial base in the process of maintaining its economic strength and potential, Hong Kong's economic attractiveness to local and foreign in- vestments will largely depend on continuous sound and balanced execution and improvement of service provided by its municipal government, a forward looking and courageous municipal legislature and an independent judiciary for the interest of its general public and the society as a whole.
In view of the remaining few years before the change in sovereignty in 1997 and the scant attention paid to the Urban Council in the Draft Basic Law, reflection on the future role and function of the Council is urgent and should not be neglected. Neither should the present role and function of the Council constraint the explore of a more comprehensive role and function that the Urban Council could play in the years to come. It is therefore URGENT that the Urban Council itself should prepare a proposal on its future role and function and present the proposal as soon as possible to the government and the relevant body that will launch the SAR government on the 1st of July 1997.
With the above, I support the motion.
MR. JASON YEUNG KING-YUK (in English):—
The Urban Council and its Role in Local Heritage Conservation
Mr. Chairman, as a new member to the Council, carrying the background of being an architect as well as the immediate Past Chairman of the Antiquities Advisory Board, I would like to take the opportunity of this annual debate to offer some of my observations and questions on the role of the Urban Council in the local scene of heritage conservation.
While the Council should indeed be congratulated to have successfully taken away the once ugly description of Hong Kong as being a ‘Cultural Desert', by providing, over the past 30 years, a wide range of such modern cultural facilities as museums, libraries and cultural centres by which the citizens' cultural life have been much elevated to a sophisticated international level, one should also be cautious that this cultural civilization should not have been built on superficial sand dunes but on good foundations deeply anchored to the historic past.
Page 130Page 131
Page 131 of 166
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.