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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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During my two-odd months in the Council, I sometimes doubted whether the Urban Services Department did thoroughly implement the policies formulated by the Council. I suggest that the Council should set up a working group to review the overall operation of USD and see which areas of services can be strengthened or improved. Today, I would like to share with my fellow colleagues my views on the following issues.
Firstly, there should be flexibility in the allocation of funds to District Boards. There is a close relationship between the Urban Council and District Boards. Every year, the Urban Services Department sends officials to District Boards to brief them on the Council's five-year plan in each district and collect local opinions. Moreover, the Council also allocates funds to each District Board to subsidise their cultural and recreational activities such as those held at the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Lunar New Year.
The Council also allocates funds to District Boards for minor environmental improvement projects. However, the UC and the USD always stick to past practices and cannot exercise flexibility in the allocation of funds. Every District Board is allocated the same amount of funds, and the District Boards are not particularly thankful for the funds provided. This is because the population and area of each District vary. For example, Eastern District is very different from Wanchai District in these aspects. An amount of funds which is barely enough for Wanchai District is obviously insufficient for Eastern District.
I suggest that the Council and the Department should consider the population and area of each District before deciding the amount of funds so that public funds can be used more appropriately. Moreover, the allocation of funds for minor environmental improvement projects should be flexible as well, and the Council should allow the District Boards more flexibility in using the money so that the aim of subsidising District Boards can be achieved.
Secondly, 'confidential documents' are not 'confidential'.
Among the large volume of documents I receive daily, there are papers enclosed in small and medium-sized envelopes labelled 'confidential', but I find these 'confidential documents' are by no means confidential. Maybe, this is one of the characteristics of bureaucracy. Why don't we allow more transparency so as to avoid outsiders' misunderstanding that we keep them in the dark? Moreover, by doing so, we can also help produce less waste paper.
Thirdly, the Council and Department's publicity on food hygiene lacks continuity.
As you may be aware, there are cases of suspected intake of poisoned vegetables in Hong Kong every year. Last year also saw the outbreak of El Tor Cholera. The victims contracted the disease after eating seafood kept in contaminated seawater containing this kind of bacteria. We also found the presence of the same kind of bacteria in the water of the Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter in the Southern District.
One of the Council's responsibilities is to promote education on public health. I, however, find the Council and Department have not done enough every year on conveying their message to the public, and there is no coherent publicity plan to warn the public against poisoned vegetables and seafood contaminated by cholera bacteria. This year has just begun, and we anticipate there will be outbreaks of 'poisoned vegetables' and induced cholera cases this year. What are our plans for publicity and health education this year? Will the authorities still stick to the approach of 'treating symptoms but not the causes'? It is obvious that people feel the Department is too passive in handling the recent issue of herbal tea shops selling food other than the permitted categories. The Department would still be ignorant of the issue if the Councillors had not raised the query. Therefore, the Department should adopt a more positive attitude and take the initiative to identify the problems instead of taking action only after the problem has surfaced.
Lastly, to all my fellow Members who are taking part in the Urban Council Election in March, I wish them success in regaining membership of the Council. I also hope the Urban Services Department will run faster in the Year of the Big and be more positive in serving the people and meeting all challenges.
Mr. Chairman, with these remarks, I support the motion.
MR. SUEN KAI-CHEONG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, having joined the Urban Council for just two months, I am still groping my way on a lot of Council issues, so I cannot claim to have any insights. Very often, I still have to seek the advice of my senior colleagues.
What I would like to talk about today is the 'vice' problem in Hong Kong, which is aggravating and spreading around rapidly in different forms.
Under the pressure from various civic groups, the Recreation and Culture Branch has also begun to pay greater attention to the issue of obscene and indecent articles in recent years. It is hoped that amendments to the existing 'Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance' will reduce the chances for juveniles to come into contact with such articles. While I support the Government's attitude of facing this issue squarely and its compliance with public opinions, I do not find the proposals put forward by the Recreation and Culture Branch earlier on adequate.
First of all, it was proposed that all indecent publications must be enclosed in sealed opaque wrappers and that the names and addresses of the publishers must be printed on the wrappers to facilitate enforcement actions against offenders. I think these proposals will have certain positive effects. At least they will pose some obstacles for unscrupulous publishers in the publication of indecent articles and at the same time prevent juveniles from coming into direct contact with publications conveying indecent ideas. Newspaper vendors will also know clearly that such publications cannot be sold to people under the age of 18.
My experience in the publishing industry for over twenty years tells me that nearly all decent publishers print their own particulars clearly in order to protect their copyrights. Those who do not print the publishers' particulars are mostly unscrupulous publishers who try to pass for decent publishers. In order to avoid investigation by the authorities, they do not print publication particulars or just print a P.O. Box number.
Page 112 of 115
Page 112 of 115
212
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 112 of 115
213
During my two-odd months in the Council, I sometimes doubted whether the Urban Services Department did thoroughly implement the policies formulated by the Council. I suggest that the Council should set up a working group to review the overall operation of USD and see which areas of services can be strengthened or improved. Today, I would like to share with my fellow colleagues my views on the following issues.
Firstly, there should be flexibility in the allocation of funds to District Boards There is a closely relationship between the Urban Council and District Boards. Every year, the Urban Services Department sends officials to District Boards to brief them on the Council's five year plan in each district and collect local opinions. Moreover, the Council also allocates funds to each District Board to subsidise their cultural and recreational avtivities such as those held at the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Lunar New Year.
The Council also allocates funds to District Boards for minor environmental improvement projects. However, the UC and the USD always stick to past practices and cannot exercise flexibility in the allocation of funds. Every District Board is allocated the same amount of funds and the District Boards are not particularly thankful for the funds provided. This is because the population and area of each District vary. For example, Eastern District is very different from Wanchai District in these aspects. An amount of funds which is barely enough for Wanchai District is obviously insufficient for Eastern District.
I suggest that the Council and the Department should consider the population and area of each District before deciding the amount of funds so that public funds can be used more appropriately. Moreover, the allocation of funds for minor environmental improvement projects should be flexible as well and the Council should allow the District Boards more flexibility in using the money so that the aim of subsidizing District Boards can be achieved.
Secondly, 'confidential documents' are not ‘confidential'
Among the large volume of documents I receive daily, there are papers enclosed in small and medium sized envelopes labelled 'confidential', but I find these 'confidential documents' are by no means confidential. Maybe, this is one of the characteristics of bureaucracy. Why don't we allow more transparency so as to avoid the outsiders' misunderstanding that we keep them in the dark? Moreover, by doing so, we can also help produce less waste paper.
Thirdly, the Council and Department's publicity on food hygiene lacks continuity
As you may be aware, there are cases of suspected intake of poisoned vegetables in Hong Kong every year. Last year also saw the outbreak of E1 Tor Cholera. The victims contracted the disease after eating seafood kept in contaminated sea water containing this kind of bacteria. We also found the presence of the same kind of bacteria in the water of the Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter in the Southern District.
One of the Council's responsibilities is to promote education on public health. I, however, find the Council and Department have not done enough every year on
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conveying their message to the public and there is no coherent publicity plan to warn the public against poisoned vegetables and seafood contaminated by cholera bacteria. This year has just begun and we anticipate there will be outbreaks of 'poisoned vegetables' and induced cholera cases this year. What are our plans for publicity and health education this year? Will the authorities still stick to the approach of 'treating symptoms but not the causes? It is obvious that people feel the Department is too passive in handling the recent issue of herbal tea shops selling food other than the permitted categories. The Department would still be ignorant of the issue if the Councillors had not raised the query. Therefore, the Department should adopt a more positivie attitude and take the initiative to identify the problems instead of taking action only after the problem has surfaced.
Lastly, to all my fellow Members who are taking part in the Urban Council Election in March, I wish them success in regaining membership of the Council. I also hope the Urban Services Department will run faster in the Year of the Big and be more positive in serving the people and meeting all challenges.
Mr. Chairman, with these remarks, I support the motion.
MR. SUEN KAI-CHEONG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, having joined the Urban Council for just two months, I am still groping my way on a lot of Council issues, so I cannot claim to have any insights. Very often, I still have to seek the advice of my senior colleagues.
What I would like to talk about today is the 'vice' problem in Hong Kong which is aggravating and spreading around rapidly in different forms.
Under the pressure from various civic groups, the Recreation and Cutlure Branch has also begun to pay greater attention to the issue of obscene and indecent articles in recent years. It is hoped that amendments to the existing 'Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance' will reduce the chances for juveniles to come into contact with such articles. While I support the Government's attitude of facing this issue squarely and its compliance with public opinions, I do not find the proposals put forward by the Recreation and Culture Branch earlier on adequte.
First of all, it was proposed that all indecent publications must be enclosed in sealed opaque wrappers and that the names and addresses of the publishers must be printed on the wrappers to facilitate enforcement actions against offenders. I think these proposals will have certain positive effects. At least they will pose some obstacles for unscrupulous publishers in the publication of indecent articles and at the same time prevent juveniles from coming into direct contact with publications conveying indecent ideas. Newspaper vendors will also know clearly that such publications cannot be sold to people under the age of 18.
My experience in the publishing industry for over twenty years tells me that nearly all decent publishers print their own particulars clearly in order to protect their copyrights. Those who do not print the publishers' particulars are mostly unscrupulous publishers who try to pass for decent publishers. In order to avoid investigation by the authorities, they do not print publication particulars or just print a P.O. Box number.
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