Page 334 of 498
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. STANLEY NG WING-FAI (in Cantonese):- Mr. Chairman, just now, a Councillor said that someone acted in complete disregard of the law and another colleague said in Mong Kok District someone turned down applications for liquor licence. Mr. Chairman, I know that making these remarks do not constitute a violation of the Standing Orders. However, I hope very much to tell some of the Councillors that I shall continue, as the law permits, to alleviate the disturbance caused to residents by the issue of liquor licences. I am also happy to inform my colleagues that we had, in December, sent a document on the revised conditions for the issue of liquor licences to the government departments concerned for review. We will shortly be able to make improvements on problems in relation to the Urban Council's issue of liquor licences. Mr. Chairman, the other two parts of my speech are on opposition to appointed seats and expenditure relating to our construction works and maintenance.
Part I
Opposition to Appointed Seats
The year 1997 is a significant year. Recently, there have been various looking-back programmes on important years, such as 1842 (when the Opium War and the subsequent concession of Hong Kong occurred), 1898 (that year saw the leasing of the New Territories), 1982 (when Mrs. Margaret THATCHER visited Beijing and China announced its intention to resume Hong Kong), and 1989 (that year, the June 4 incident of bloodshed caused a rift between the Democrats and the Chinese authorities, and Martin LEE and SZETO Wah announced their withdrawal from the Basic Law Drafting Committee).
In this speech, I shall refer to another important year to illustrate my views on the political situation. In 1848, that is, six years after the concession of Hong Kong, the European Continent was enjoying the prosperity brought by the Industrial Revolution, and naval forces were at the height of their glory. However, at the same time, the working classes, who had been oppressed for generations by landowners, capitalists, and feudal regimes, and who were caught up in an extremely unfavourable position in society, started to form labour unions and stage demonstrations and strikes to oppose feudal capitalists. In the 20th Century, that campaign swept into Mainland China. At that time, a group of revolutionaries with avant-garde thinking were determined to fight for their ideals at all costs. In the European Continent, they, while evading the military police who were pursuing them, drafted a constitution and formed the Communist Party. The bourgeoisie then was described thus in the Communist Manifesto published in 1848: 'It has drowned the most heavenly ecstasies of religious fervour, of chivalrous enthusiasm, of philistine sentimentalism, in the icy water of egotistical calculation. It has resolved personal worth into exchange value, and in place of the numberless indefeasible chartered freedoms, has set up that single, unconscionable freedom — free trade.'
Page 334 of 498
498
376
Page 334 of 498
498
376
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. STANLEY NG WING-FAI (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, just now, a Councillor said that someone acted in complete disregard of the law and another colleague said in Mong Kok District someone turned down applications for liquor licence. Mr. Chairman, I know that making these remarks do not constitute a violation of the Standing Orders. However, I hope very much to tell some of the Councillors that I shall continue, as the law permits, to alleviate the disturbance caused to residents by the issue of liquor licences. I am also happy to inform my colleagues that we had, in December, sent a document on the revised conditions for the issue of liquor licences to the government departments concerned for review. We will shortly be able to make improvements on problems in relation to the Urban Council's issue of liquor licences. Mr. Chairman, the other two parts of my speech are on opposition to appointed seats and expenditure relating to our construction works and maintenance.
Part I
Opposition to Appointed Seats
The year 1997 is a significant year. Recently, there have been various looking- back programmes on important years, such as 1842 (when the Opium War and the subsequent concession of Hong Kong occurred), 1898 (that year saw the leasing of the New Territories), 1982 (when Mrs. Margaret THATCHER visited Beijing and China announced its intention to resume Hong Kong), and 1989 (that year, the June 4 incident of bloodshed caused a rift between the Democrats and the Chinese authorities, and Martin LEE and SZETO Wah announced their withdrawal from the Basic Law Drafting Committee).
In this speech, I shall refer to another important year to illustrate my views on the political situation. In 1848, that is, six years after the concession of Hong Kong, the European Continent was enjoying the prosperity brought by the Industrial Revolution, and naval forces were at the height of their glory. However, at the same time, the working classes, who had been oppressed for generations by landowners, capitalists, and feudal regimes, and who were caught up in an extremely unfavourable position in society, started to form labour unions and stage demonstrations and strikes to oppose feudal capitalists. In the 20th Century, that campaign swept into Mainland China. At that time, a group of revolutionaries with avant-garde thinking were determined to fight for their ideals at all costs. In the European Continent, they, while evading the military police who were pursuing them, drafted a constitution and formed the Communist Party. The bourgeoisie then was described thus in the Communist Manifesto published in 1848: 'It has drowned the most heavenly ecstasies of religious fervour, of chivalrous enthusiasm, of philistine sentimentalism, in the icy water of egotistical calculation. It has resolved personal worth into exchange value, and in place of the numberless indefeasible chartered freedoms, has set up that single, unconscionable freedom-free trade.'
Page 334 of 498
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