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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Having been with the Urban Council for over half a year, what impresses me most is bureaucracy. With a staff of 16,000, the Urban Services Department has to look after almost everything. It is really not easy to accomplish these tasks. However, the officials of the Department have been working under a pattern formed and used by the colonial government over the past 100-odd years. Hence it is very difficult to make changes overnight. The discipline of the Hawker Control Team, the $100 million deficit sustained by the Cheung Sha Wan Abattoir last year and delays in municipal projects are all attributable to bureaucracy because government departments cannot solve problems in the way private establishments do. For this reason, we have wasted a lot of public funds without making any improvements to our municipal services.
Since last April, the Urban Council has been formed by directly elected members and some indirectly elected members. This change has consequently given rise to much greater accountability and it is understandable that many officers of the Department cannot adapt to this change within a short span of time, but this is exactly the kind of change an open government needs. I hope officers of the Department will gradually adapt to the new situation. It takes time to correct the unreasonable practices of the bureaucracy and I earnestly hope my colleagues in this Council will face this problem with one heart, regardless of your party affiliations. Only in this way can we make good use of the public funds to improve the municipal services of Hong Kong and realize our dream of 'Enriching City Life'.
Thank you.
MR. WU CHI-WAI (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, the speeches given by my colleagues of the Democratic Party in these two days were mostly on cultural policy and the main theme is our pursuit and insistence on the freedom of arts. It is acceptable to analyse the class nature of arts and culture because each artistic worker has his own target audience. However, it will be very dangerous if this is taken as the guiding ideology for our arts policy. It will also lead our arts policy to depart from the important principle of 'freedom of arts'.
Last year, the expenditure of the Urban Council on arts and culture amounted to $820 million, which is an alarming figure. The number of staff engaged in cultural activities also totalled 1,115 persons. As the manpower and resources devoted are tremendous, the Council should formulate a policy of arts and culture with clear objectives and global perspective in order to avoid the wastage of resources. Nevertheless, the public keep on criticizing the arts and cultural policy of the Urban Council for its lack of vigor, vitality and creativity. Why is it so? From the observation I have made since I took office, the Urban Council is just like a 'century-old shop'. Take this as a compliment, it means rich in experience and a steady style of work. However, in a derogatory sense, it means a procrastinating and conservative style of work. The bureaucratic practice of the Urban Services Department is undoubtedly deep-rooted. Worse still, as an organization with fully elected members, there are many colleagues in the Urban Council who are
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Page 360 of 485
74
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Having been with the Urban Council for over half a year, what impresses me most is bureaucracy. With a staff of 16 000, the Urban Services Department has to look after almost everything. It is really not easy to accomplish these tasks. However, the officials of the Department have been working under a pattern formed and used by the colonial government over the past 100-odd years. Hence it is very difficult to make changes overnight. The discipline of the Hawker Control Team, the $100 million deficit sustained by the Cheung Sha Wan Abattoir Jast year and delays in municipal projects are all attributable to bureaucracy because government departments cannot solve problems in the way private establishments do. For this reason, we have wasted a lot of public funds without making any improvements to our municipal services.
Since last April, the Urban Council has been formed by directly elected members and some indirectly elected members. This change has consequently given rise to much greater accountability and it is understandable that many officers of the Department cannot adapt to this change within a short span of time, but this is exactly the kind of change an open government needs. I hope officers of the Department will gradually adapt to the new situation. It takes time to correct the unreasonable practices of the bureaucracy and I earnestly hope my colleagues in this Council will face this problem with one heart, regardless of your party affiliations. Only in this way can we make good use of the public funds to improve the municipal services of Hong Kong and realize our dream of 'Enriching City Life".
Thank you.
MR. WU CHI-WAI (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, the speeches given by my colleagues of the Democratic Party in these two days were mostly on cultural policy and the main theme is our pursuit and insistence on the freedom of arts. It is acceptable to analyse the class nature of arts and culture because each artistic worker has his own target audience. However, it will be very dangerous if this is taken as the guiding ideology for our arts policy. It will also lead our arts policy to depart from the important principle of 'freedom of arts".
Last year, the expenditure of the Urban Council on arts and culture amounted to $820 million, which is an alarming figure. The number of staff engaged in cultural activities also totalled 1 115 persons. As the manpower and resources devoted are tremendous, the Council should formulate a policy of arts and culture with clear objectives and global perspective in order to avoid the wastage of resources. Nevertheless, the public keep on criticizing the arts and cultural policy of the Urban Council for its lack of vigor, vitality and creativity. Why is it so? From the observation I have made since I took office, the Urban Council is just like a 'century-old shop'. Take this as a compliment, it means rich in experience and a steady style of work. However, in a derogatory sense, it means a procrastinating and conservative style of work. The bureaucratic practice of the Urban Services Department is undoubtedly deep-rooted. Worse still, as an organization with fully elected members, there are many colleagues in the Urban Council who are
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