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is that many experienced Councillors and senior staff of the Urban Services Department have branded the hawker problem an unsolvable one. Prior to my joining the Council, I often heard them say, 'Anyone who can solve the hawker problem deserves the Nobel prize.' Such sentiment, I believe, makes everyone feel that the hawker problem cannot be solved. As a result, the problem really cannot be solved. If all of us try our best to find a solution, put it into practice and keep it under review, then there will be hope. I hope the Urban Council will formulate a plan as soon as possible which clearly sets out our objectives regarding the hawker problem. Also, specific annual statement of aims should be formulated in accordance with these objectives so that we can work out a plan for dealing with the hawker problem and then implement it.
There are certain aspects that we should take note of in this plan. Firstly, the control of hawkers operating on-street fixed pitches and doing business in the markets should be improved. A number of issues have been raised by the Councillors who have spoken earlier and I am not going to repeat them. An effective procedure should be established to recover some fixed pitch licences that are not operating the stalls themselves so that the number of hawker licences will not grow without restraint. Secondly, the Urban Council should register the existing on-street unlicensed hawkers as early as possible. After conducting this registration, we will know the extent of the problem that we have to face and how to solve it. When the registration is completed, the hawkers should be organized to run their business in an orderly manner as quickly as possible. Then the establishment of the enforcement personnel and statutory punishments should be increased in order to deter further growth in the number of unlicensed hawkers, thereby putting a stop to the continuous expansion of illegal hawking. We will see more and more immigrants from China as 1997 draws near. They lack any skill for earning a living, thus hawking becomes one of the most attractive livelihoods for them. Moreover, as the local industries are facing structural changes, many unemployed workers failing to find new jobs will also choose to become unlicensed hawkers. Therefore, if we do not solve the hawker problem within these two years, it will really become unsolvable.
My second wish is that the Council's district entertainment functions will be educational and of higher quality. All district entertainment programmes are produced by commercial entertainment companies. These programmes are not entertaining enough and many are even not suitable for children. Therefore, the Council should in future place more emphasis on improving the quality and educational standards of entertainment activities. I suggest that the Council should encourage more organizations to produce more educational programmes with good entertainment quality for young people, children, and the elderly at community halls and cultural centres in various districts. Thus, parents can participate in these functions along with their children, and the elderly can also enjoy themselves while receiving more educational information through entertainment.
My third wish is to improve our care for the disabled. As Mr. Stephen WONG Hon-ching has talked much on this subject, I am not going to dwell on it but will just add two more points. One is that the definition of the disabled should not be confined to the physically disabled, the mentally handicapped, and the ex-mental patients. One kind of disabled people have been neglected for years by the community, and they are patients suffering from chronic illnesses such as kidney disease and rheumatoid arthritis, etc., and they all need our care. In addition to Mr. Stephen WONG's suggestions regarding the provision of service, I would like to mention two more points. Firstly, it is important to make the hiring of venues convenient for users. I hope that the Urban Council will make the hiring of venues more convenient for organizations for the disabled and give them concessions. Secondly, more consideration should be given to the needs of the disabled with regard to the provision of facilities. For instance, we have a lot of swimming pool facilities at the moment, but all of them are designed for the use of normal people. If the disabled use these pools, they may find the water too cold and become ill as a result because they are physically weaker than normal people. I wonder if more swimming pools designed especially for the disabled, e.g., ones with warm water, can be provided in future, so that they can be rehabilitated through swimming.
After talking about my three wishes, I would like to conclude by presenting my views as well as those of the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood on the problem of politicization. I am now in the Council, and since all Urban Councillors will be returned by election in future, how can the Urban Council remain apolitical? Therefore, on the issue of politicization, we should stop urging the Council to remain apolitical. Doing so simply shows that we have a phobia for politics, or that we are so ingrained with the poison of colonial politics that we always dream of hiding in the political illusion of colonialism. Hence, not only shall we politicize, but we should politicize fast in order to build up a mature political culture. Only with a mature political culture can we learn to seek common ground while allowing for differences in opinion, and to stand for the interests of the majority while caring for the interests of the minority at the same time. Moreover, we can learn to make decisions by putting the society's interests before an individual's interests, and to hold discussions by focusing on an issue without making references to the people concerned. Despite the fact that we represent different political parties and have different views, we can still cooperate sincerely in a mature political culture to promote and improve the services of the Urban Council in the interests of the Hong Kong people. Mr. Chairman (although he is not here at the moment), with these remarks, I support the motion.
MR. WONG KING-CHEUNG (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman. The Urban Council has 113 years of history. In its early years, the Council was composed of two types of members: appointed members and elected members. In 1989, with the introduction of representative members, the Council began to have three types of members. I am a newcomer to the Council, having been a representative member for only two-odd months. However, I do have a wish. I wish that the Urban Council would become more efficient from this year onwards.
I am sure that in these hundred-odd years, the Urban Council has indeed brought about improvement to the environment and provided abundant culture and recreational facilities to the citizens in Hong Kong. The public has come to know more about the Council. They also support and participate in the Council's activities.
Page 111 of 115
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211
Page 111 of 115
210
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
is that many experienced Councillors and senior staff of the Urban Services Department have branded the hawker problem an unsolvable one. Prior to my joining the Council, I often heard them say, 'Anyone who can solve the hawker problem deserves the Nobel prize.' Such sentiment, I believe, makes everyone feel that the hawker problem cannot be solved. As a result, the problem really cannot be solved. If all of us try our best to find a solution, put it into practice and keep it under review, then there will be hope. I hope the Urban Council will formulate a plan as soon as possible which clearly sets out our objectives regarding the hawker problem. Also, specific annual statement of aims should be formulated in accordance with these objectives so that we can work out a plan for dealing with the hawker problem and then implement it.
There are certain aspects that we should take note of this plan. Firstly, the control of hawkers operating on-street fixed picthes and doing business in the markets should be improved. A number of issues have been raised by the Councillors who have spoken earlier and I am not going to repeat them. An effective procedure should be established to recover some fixed pitch licences who are not operating the stalls themselves so that the number of hawker licences will not grow without restraint. Secondly, the Urban Council should register the existing on-street unlicensed hawkers as early as possible. After conducting this registration, we will know the extent of the problem that we have to face and how to solve it. When the registration is completed, the hawkers should be organized to run their business in an orderly mannerr as quickly as possible. Then the establishment of the enforcement personnel and statutory punishments should be increased in order to deter further growth in the number of unlicensed hawkers whereby putting a stop to the continuous expansion of illegal hawking. We will see more and more immigrations from China as 1997 draws near. They lack any skill for earning a living, thus hawking becomes one of the most attractive livelihood for them. Moreover, as the local industries are facing structural changes, many unemployed workers failing to find new jobs will also choose to become unlicensed hawkers. Therefore, if we do not solve the hawker problem within these two years, it will really become un-solvable.
My second wish is that the Council's district entertainment functions will be educational and of higher quality. All district entertainment programmes are produced by commercial entertainment compaines. These programmes are not entertaining enough and many are even not suitable for children. Therefore the Council should in future place more emphasis on improving the quality and educational standards of entertainment activities. I suggest, that the Council should encourage more organizations to produce more educational programmes with good entertainment quality for young people, children and the elderly at community halls and cultural centres in various districts. Thus parents can participate in these functions along with their children, and the elderly can also enjoy themselves while receiving more educational information through entertainment.
My third wish is to improve our care for the disabled. As Mr. San Stephen WONG Hon-ching has talked much on this subject, I am not going to dwell on it but will just add two more points. One is that the definition of the disabled should not be confined to the physically disabled, the mentally handicapped and the ex-mental patients. One
Page 111 of 115
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211
kind of disabled people have been neglected for years by the community, and they are patients suffering from chronic illnesses such as kidney disease and rheumatoid arthritis, etc., and they all need our care. In addition to Mr. San Stephen WONG'S suggestions regarding the provision of service, I would like to mention two more points. Firstly, it is important to make the hiring of venue convenient for users. I hope that the Urban Council will make the hiring of venues more convenient for organizations for the disabled and give them concessions. Secondly, more consideration should be given to the needs of the disabled with regard to the provision of facilities. For instance, we have a lot of swimming pool facilities at the moment, but all of them are designed for the use of normal people. If the disabled use these pools, they may find the water too cold and become ill as a result because they are physically weaker than normal people. I wonder if more swimming pools designed especialy for the disable, e.g. ones with warm water, can be provided in future, so that they can be rehabilitated through swimming.
After talking about my three wishes, I would like to conclude by presenting my views as well as those of the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood on the problem of politicization. I am now in the Council, and since all Urban Councillors will be returned by election in future, how can the Urban Council remain apolitical? Therefore, on the issue of politicization, we should stop urging the Council to remain apolitical. Doing so simply shows that we have a phobia for politics, or that we are so ingrained with the poison of colonial politics that we always dream of hiding in the political illusion of colonialism. Hence, not only shall we politicize, but we should politicize fast in order to build up a mature political culture. Only with a mature political culture can we learn to seek common ground while allowing for differences in opinion, and to stand for the interests of the majority while caring for the interests of the minority at the same time. Moreover, we can learn to make decisions by putting the society's interests before an individual's interests, and to hold discussions by focusing on an issue without making references to the people concerned. Despite the fact that we represent different political parties and have different views, we can still cooperate sincerely in a mature political culture to promote and improve the services of the Urban Council in the interests of the Hong Kong people. Mr. Chairman (although he is not here at the moment), with these remarks I support the motion.
MR. WONG KING-CHEUNG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman. The Urban Council has 113 years of history. In its early years, the Council was composed of two types of members: appointed members and elected members. In 1989, with the introduction of representative members, the Council began to have three types of members. I am a newcomer to the Council having been a representative member for only two-odd months. However, I do have a wish. I wish that the Urban Council would become more efficient from this year onwards.
I am sure that in these hundred-odd years, the Urban Council has indeed brought about improvement to the environment and provided abundant culture and recreational facilities to the citizens in Hong Kong. The public has come to know more about the Council. They also support and participate in the Council's activities.
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