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As the proposed amendments are only directed against the publishers of indecent publications, even if the amendment bill is passed, unscrupulous businessmen can still claim that their publications do not belong to the indecent category and so do not have to print accurate publication particulars. Even if the authorities send these publications to the 'Obscene Articles Tribunal', it will take some time to trace the publisher and it will be unfair if the newspaper vendors are prosecuted for having unwittingly sold these publications to people under 18.
In view of the loopholes in the Government's present proposals, I request the Government to add an amendment requiring all publishers, whether publishing indecent articles or not, to print their particulars clearly. Since almost all proper publishers have already printed their publication particulars, this amendment will not cause them inconvenience but will stop unscrupulous publishers from using loopholes in the law to engage in illegal activities.
The Government has disclosed that it will, in the second stage of review, consider introducing a registration system under which all publishers are required to register with the Government. I agree that this will have certain deterrent effect on the unscrupulous publishers, but the Government should study how to implement this system carefully and ensure it will not interfere with freedom of the press.
The Government has also emphasized that the publishers and newspaper vendors are both responsible for preventing juveniles from having access to indecent publications. The former should be responsible for sealing indecent publications and printing the warning and publication particulars, and the latter for not selling these publications to people under 18.
However, as some unscrupulous publishers make covers of their publications look like decent publications and do not provide sealed wrappers and publication details, newspaper vendors cannot tell whether they are indecent publications or not. Therefore we think the authorities should treat newspaper vendors who break the law unintentionally with leniency.
The first and foremost task now facing the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority (TELA) is to increase its manpower to step up inspections. However, if, in the long run, TELA is to be restructured to form another law enforcement department vested with powers similar to the existing Hawker Control Force as proposed by some organizations, there may be practical difficulties. The present legislation does not clearly define the word 'indecent', which is within the sphere of moral standard. While the Hawker Control Force have objective criteria for the arrest of unlicensed hawkers, it is not easy to set objective standards for indecent articles. As a result, disputes will often arise when free interpretation is made at the time of enforcement. Moreover, as TELA staff have not received any training in martial art, it will be even more difficult for them to handle the situation in case of resistance involving violence.
However, there should be dedicated staff in the existing law enforcement departments for conducting raids against indecent articles instead of just launching one or two major operations when there are heated public discussions and then ignoring the problem when the heat dies down. I suggest the Police should consider setting up a task force similar to the 'Anti-Triad Squad' or 'Commercial Crime Bureau' to tackle this problem. Of course, the Government should allocate more manpower and resources to the police for this additional duty.
Meanwhile, the Recreation and Culture Branch and TELA should also work out a good announcement system to notify newspaper vendors at regular intervals which publications have been classified indecent or obscene, so as to alert the newspaper vendors and prevent them from claiming 'ignorance' when prosecuted.
With these remarks, Mr. Chairman, I support the motion.
MR. RONNIE WONG Man-chiu (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman. Over the years, the Urban Council has shouldered the responsibility for providing recreation and sports facilities and venues as well as planning and organising various kinds of recreation and sports activities for public participation. In the provision of recreation and sports venues, the Recreation Select Committee has all along adopted a very careful approach in the assessment and approval of all items. Apart from the necessity and popularity of these items, their cost-effectiveness and design are also of great concern to the Committee Members. With regard to design, in order to bring it in line with environmental protection and greening policies, the use of concrete and steel structures in the design of parks, leisure grounds, recreation and sports facilities etc. has been reduced as far as possible in recent years. Instead, we have used more soft landscaping materials like flowers, grass and trees as the theme of design.
In the provision of activities, we have extended our co-operation with schools and strengthened the promotion of sports activities at grassroots level in recent years. We have also made great efforts to promote 'Sport-for-All'. In order to encourage more working people and elderly people to participate in various recreation and sports activities organised by the UC, the Department has since last year selected representatives from participants of these activities to take part in the competitions of International Masters Games and they have achieved brilliant results. In order to support 'Sports-for-All', we have continued organising activities suitable for people of different age groups and social strata. These activities include the International Challenge Day, Masters Games and Corporate Games.
All along, the Urban Council has contributed a lot to the promotion of recreation activities and grassroots training, and such contributions have won recognition from the general public, recreation and sports organizations, and all the governing bodies of sports. However, in order to expand its influence, the Sports Development Board, despite its lack of resources and failure to achieve its own goals, is competing with the Urban Council in recent years in activities within the scope of responsibility of the Council. This has led to duplication of resources, thus wasting taxpayers' money. In this connection, I would like to advise the Sports Development Board to review which way its future development should be headed.
With regard to the Sports Development Board, it is an independent quasi-government organization, and it uses taxpayers' money. The government has just allocated $100 million to it a few months ago for the promotion of sports. Though the Sports Development Board is controlling a large amount of taxpayers' money, it holds all
Page 113 of 115
Page 113 of 115
214
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 113 of 115
215
As the proposed amendments are only directed against the publishers of indecent publications, even if the amendment bill is passed, unscrupulous businessmen can still claim that their publications do not belong to the indecent category and so do not have to print accurate publication particulars. Even if the authorities send these publications to the 'Obscene Articles Tribunal', it will take some time to trace the publisher and it will be unfair if the newspaper vendors are prosecuted for having unwittingly sold these publications to people under 18.
In view of the loopholes in the Government's present proposals, I request the Government to add an amendment requiring all publishers, whether publishing indecent articles or not, to print their particulars clearly. Since almost all proper publishers have already printed their publication particulars, this amendment will not cause them inconvenience but will stop unscrupulous publishers from using loopholes in the law to engage in illegal activities.
The Government has disclosed that it will, in the second stage of review, consider introducing a registration system under which all publishers are required to register with the Government. I agree that this will have certain deterrent effect on the unscrupulous publishers, but the Government should study how to implement this system carefully and ensure it will not interfere with freedom of the press.
The Government has also emphasized that the publishers and newspaper vendors are both responsible for preventing juveniles from having access to indecent publications. The former should be responsible for sealing indecent publications and printing the warning and publication particulars, and the latter for not selling these publications to people under 18.
However, as some unscrupulour publishers make covers of their publications look like decent publications and do not provide sealed wrappers and publication details, newspaper vendors cannot tell whether they are indecent publications or not. Therefore we think the authorities should treat newspaper vendors who break the law unintentionally with leniency.
The first and foremost task now facing the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority (TELA) is to increase its manpower to step up inspections. However, if, in the long run, TELA is to be retstructured to form another law enforcement department vested with powers similar to the existing Hakwer Control Force as proposed by some organizations, there may be practical difficulties. The present legislation does not clearly define the word 'indecent', which is within the sphere of moral standard. While the Hawker Control Force have objective criteria for the arrest of unlicensed hawkers, it is not easy to set objective standards for indecent articles. As a result, disputes will often arise when free interpretation is made at the time of enforcement. Moreover, as TELA staff have not received any training in martial art, it will be even more difficult for them to handle the situation in case of resistance involving violence.
However, there should be dedicated staff in the existing law enforcement departments for conducting raids against indecent articles instead of just launching one or two major operations when there are heated public discussions and then ignoring the problem when the heat dies down. I suggest the Police should consider setting up
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a task force similar to the 'Anti-Triad Squad' or 'Commercial Crime Bureau' to tackle this problem. Of course, the Government should allocate more manpower and resources to the police for this additional duty.
Meanwhile, the Recreation and Culture Branch and TELA should also work out a good announcement system to notify newspaper vendors at regular intervals which publications have been classified indecent or obscene, so as to alter the newspaper vendors and prevent them from claiming ‘ignorance' when prosecuted.
With these remarks, Mr. Chairman, I support the motion.
MR. RONNIE WOng Man-chiu (in Cantonese):- -Mr. Chairman. Over the years, the Urban Council has shouldered the responsibility for providing recreation and sports facilitate and venues as well as planning and organising various kinds of recreation and sports activities for public participation. In the provision of recreation and sports venues, the Recreation Select Committee has all along adopted a very careful approach in the assessment and approval of all items. Apart from the necessity and popularity of these items, their cost-effectiveness and design are also of great concern to the Committee Members. With regard to design, in order to bring it in the line with environmental protection and greening policies, the use of concrete and steel structures in the design of parks, leisure grounds, recreation and sports facilities etc. has been reduced as far as possible in recent years. Instead, we have used more soft landscaping materials like flowers, grass and trees as the theme of design.
In the provision of activities, we have extended our co-operation with schools and strengthened the promotion of sports activities at grassroots level in recent years. We have also made great efforts to promote 'Sport-for-All'. In order to encourage more working people and elderly people to participate in various recreation and sports activities organised by the UC, the Department has since last year selected representatives from participants of these activities to take part in the competitions of International Masters Games and they have achieved brilliant results. In order to support 'Sports-for-All', we have continued organising activities suitable for people of different age groups and social strata. These activites include the International Challenge Day, Masters Games and Corporate Games. All along, the Urban Council has contributed a lot to the promotion of recreation activities and grassroots training, and such contributions have won recognition from the general public, recreation and sports organizations, and all the governing bodies of sports. However, in order to expand its influence, the Sports Development Board, despite its lack of resources and failure to achieve its own goals, is competing with the Urban Council in recent years in activities within the scope of responsibility of the Council. This has led to duplication of resources, thus wasting taxpayers' money. In this connection, I would like to advise the Sports Development Board to review which way its future development should be headed.
With regard to the Sports Development Board, it is an independent quasi-government organization, and it uses taxpayers' money. The government has just allocated 100 million dollars to it a few months ago for the promotion of sports. Though the Sports Development Board is controlling a large amount of taxpayers' money, it holds all
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