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HONG KONG PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
Government is not that nothing will happen as long as we do not review matters and relationships.
I have sat on this Council for more than two years. I have heard a lot of comments on the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, the Architectural Services Department and others. We have expressed on different occasions that there is need to review our relationship with government departments. When we actually conduct a review, we inevitably have to touch on the MAA. How can we avoid this?
Mr. Chairman, I hope you can guide us on how to avoid involving the MAA. How can we proceed to review our relationship with the above departments and the self-financing operation of the Hong Kong Stadium so that we can make such bodies serve the Council effectively? Only with such service can we hope to provide our citizens with the best service. Mr. Chairman, I hope that with the above remarks, I have called Members to consider voting for Ms. Ada WONG's motion. Please support it as the first step in the review process.
MR. JOSEPH LAI Chi-keong (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, when I spoke for the first time at the Council's Annual Convention Debate, I said that the Urban Council was an elected assembly different from other public service organizations such as bus or power companies. In fact, the Urban Council and the Urban Services Department are different from other government bureaus (previously departments).
We all know that the last Council was fully elected. We were fully accountable to the public. The last Council was not one limited to providing service, but one with a mission to promote representative government. That mission is a great democratic ideology. To review is not equivalent to not pledging allegiance. I am certain of this.
Every appointed Member has pledged to uphold the Basic Law. Does it mean that we cannot review the Basic Law? Would proposing to review it constitute an act of disloyalty? We can see that the recent influx of illegal child immigrants from the Mainland has posed a lot of problems. Does it mean that as appointed Members, we cannot do anything? Therefore, Mr. Chairman, I hope we can keep an open mind in considering the motion moved by Ms. Ada WONG. We will improve by reviewing. If we stay put or turn a deaf ear to public criticism and advice, we would not be responsive at all.
I hope we can have a new beginning with reunification. This new beginning is to me to be seriously accountable to the public and to improve on unreasonable practices left behind from the Colonialist era. Mr. Chairman, I support the motion, but I insist that review should be conducted under the collective wisdom of Members and taking into consideration the opinions of the majority. No review would be going backwards.
Page 207 of 654
208
Page 207 of 654
Page 207 of 654
208
HONG KONG PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
Government is not that nothing will happen as long as we do not review matters and relationships.
I have sat on this Council for more than two years. I have heard a lot of comments on the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, the Architectural Services Department and others. We have expressed on different occasions that there is need to review our relationship with government departments. When we actually conduct a review, we inevitably have to touch on the MAA. How can we avoid this?
Mr. Chairman, I hope you can guide us on how to avoid involving the MAA. How can we proceed to review our relationship with the above departments and the self-financing operation of the Hong Kong Stadium so that we can make such bodies serve the Council effectively? Only with such service can we hope to provide our citizens with the best service. Mr. Chairman, I hope that with the above remarks, I have called Members to consider voting for Ms. Ada WONG's motion. Please support it as the first step in the review process.
MR. JOSEPH Lai Chi-keong (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, when I spoke for the first time at the Council's Annual Convention Debate, I said that the Urban Council was an elected assembly different from other public service organizations such as bus or power companies. In fact, the Urban Council and the Urban Services Department are different from other government bureaus (previously departments).
We all know that the last Council was fully elected. We were fully accountable to the public. The last Council was not one limited to providing service, but one with a mission to promote representative government. That mission is a great democratic ideology. To review is not equivalent to not pledging allegiance. I am certain of this.
Every appointed Member has pledged to uphold the Basic Law. Does it mean that we cannot review the Basic Law? Would proposing to review it constitute an act of disloyalty? We can see that the recent influx of illegal child immigrants from the Mainland has posed a lot of problems. Does it mean that as appointed Members, we cannot do anything? Therefore, Mr. Chairman, I hope we can keep an open mind in considering the motion moved by Ms. Ada WONG. We will improve by reviewing. If we stay put or turn a deaf ear to public criticism and advice, we would not be responsive at all.
I hope we can have a new beginning with reunification. This new beginning is to me to be seriously accountable to the public and to improve on unreasonable practices left behind from the Colonialist era. Mr. Chairman, I support the motion, but I insist that review should be conducted under the collective wisdom of Members and taking into consideration the opinions of the majority. No review would be going backwards.
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