Page 352 of 498
Page 352 of 498
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
gimmick. He even said: 'Even such performance is to be banned, I still want to have a try. By the time a ban is imposed, I have already become a pioneer of the trend.' These remarks might reflect the mentality of some singers. What worries me is that these concerts with indecent performance might spread from the Hong Kong Coliseum to other public places, such as playgrounds for ball games or public housing estates. Has there been any appropriate response to this new trend from the community so as to protect the rights and interests of the audience of different ages?
The present situation is that the audience hastily buy tickets but do not know whether the contents and the presentation of the concerts are classified as category III or not. This is unfair to the consumers and the public. Being kept ignorant about this, they bring along their underaged children to the concerts. Since there is no government department monitoring or any guideline governing the contents of the concerts, we are impossible to protect our young people from being influenced by the undesirable ideology. In future, parents may not allow their children to go to such concerts. In this way, young people will be deprived of their rights to attend vocal concerts. I had conducted a survey in the form of questionnaires and collected the views of 315 adult respondents on the contents of the current concerts. The findings of the survey indicated that of the people interviewed, nearly 70% considered that the recent concerts became more and more pornographic, more than 45% opined that the contents and dialogues in the concerts contained foul and obscene language and elements of indecency, 60% said the performers were more and more scantily clad, and more than 65% pointed out that the ideology expressed was undesirable. In addition, among the interviewees, 90% were concerned that their children might be influenced by the undesirable ideology of the concerts, nearly 65% agreed that the guidelines drawn up for the three-tier classification should be introduced, and 98% favoured the proposal that the Urban Council should set up a complaints channel so that members of the public could voice their views and comments on the contents of the concerts.
The findings of the survey revealed that the public began to be more concerned about the daring and glaring performance of the artists in the concerts and asked the Government and the Urban Council for the provision of a complaints channel. I think the Council cannot shirk its responsibility because it is the Council who hires the venues out and gives the public permission to use them. For this reason, the Council cannot turn a blind eye to this and should introduce a complaints system for vocal concerts, such as the guidelines on the 3-tier classification system. At present, relevant laws and mechanism have been in place to censor the contents of films, TV programmes and publications in order to avoid any obscene and indecent wordings or performances so that the contents of performances/publications are suitable for adults and at the same time take into account the immature mentality of the young people. Up till now, this mechanism has been operating well and can protect the rights of various parties. Therefore, the Government should
498
396
Page 352 of 498
Page 352 of 498
498
396
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
gimmick. He even said: 'Even such performance is to be banned, I still want to have a try. By the time a ban is imposed. I have already become a pioneer of the trend. These remarks might reflect the mentality of some singers. What worries me is that these concerts with indecent performance might spread from the Hong Kong Coliseum to other public places, such as playgrounds for ball games or public housing estates. Has there been any appropriate response to this new trend from the community so as to protect the rights and interests of the audience of different ages?
The present situation is that the audience hastily buy tickets but do not know whether the contents and the presentation of the concerts are classified as category III or not. This is unfair to the consumers and the public. Being kept ignorant about this. they bring along their underaged children to the concerts. Since there is no government department monitoring or any guideline governing the contents of the concerts, we are impossible to protect our young people from being influenced by the undesirable ideology. In future, parents may not allow their children to go to such concerts. In this way, young people will be deprived of their rights to attend vocal concerts. I had conducted a survey in the form of questionnaires and collected the views of 315 adult respondents on the contents of the current concerts. The findings of the survey indicated that of the people interviewed, nearly 70% considered that the recent concerts became more and more pornographic, more than 45% opined that the contents and dialogues in the concerts contained foul and obscene language and elements of indecency, 60% said the performers were more and more scantily clad, and more than 65% pointed out that the ideology expressed was undesirable. In addition, among the interviewees, 90% were concerned that their children might be influenced by the undesirable ideology of the concerts, nearly 65% agreed that the guidelines drawn up for the three-tier classification should be introduced, and 98% favoured the proposal that the Urban Council should set up a complaints channel so that members of the public could voice their views and comments on the contents of the concerts.
The findings of the survey revealed that the public began to be more concerned about the daring and glaring performance of the artists in the concerts and asked the Government and the Urban Council for the provision of a complaints channel. I think the Council cannot shirk its responsibility because it is the Council who hires the venues out and gives the public permission to use them. For this reason, the Council cannot turn a blind eye to this and should introduce a complaints system for vocai concerts, such as the guidelines on the 3-tier classification system. At present, relevant laws and mechanism have been in place to censor the contents of films, TV programmes and publications in order to avoid any obscene and indecent wordings or performances so that the contents of performances/publications are suitable for adults and at the same time take into account the immature mentality of the young people. Up till now, this mechanism has been operating well and can protect the rights of various parties. Therefore, the Government should
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