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474
HONG KONG PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
MR. WONG KING-CHEUNG (on leave)
MR. SUEN KAI-CHEONG (attended another official meeting)
MR. YIU SIU-SING (out of town)
MR. KAM NAI-WAI (attended another official meeting)
MS. JENNIFER CHOW KIT-BING (out of town)
MR. WEN CHOY-BON (attended another official meeting)
MR. BENEDICT LEE SHUI-SING (on leave)
THE HON. HENRY WU KING-CHEONG (attended another official meeting) PROFESSOR SHANE ZEE SZE-YONG (on sick leave)
ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN (in Cantonese):-The Debate on the Statement of Aims for 1998/99 which was adjourned on Tuesday is now resumed. I call on the first speaker, Mr. Daniel To Boon-man.
MR. DANIEL TO BOON-MAN (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, after Hong Kong's reversion to China in 1997, three important events concerning the people's livelihood occurred, with far-reaching consequences. They are the bird flu epidemic, the fall in property prices and the stock market slump. The almost simultaneous occurrence of these events that placed Hong Kong in international headlines shows that there are some long-standing problems in Hong Kong which force us to give the matter serious thought.
According to the complexity theory which has been advanced in recent years, a crisis does not happen overnight. It is the result of a number of factors building up over the years. When the problem first started, it could have been solved easily and the cost of solving it would have been relatively low. But very often the parties concerned try to evade responsibility—individuals evade responsibility, organisations evade responsibility, and the government evades responsibility. In the end, the problems build up and take root. When they eventually break out, the situation gets out of control. This often happens within the framework of a government or council. Using the above-mentioned three major events as examples, I would like to express the following views:
(1) The bird flu incident shows that:
(a) the Government does not have any contingency plan to deal with a crisis:
(b) the senior levels of the Government responded too slowly;
(c) when the problem first started, its gravity was not recognized and the epidemic was not curbed at source in the very beginning; (d) the chicken slaughter operation lacked careful planning; (e) there was lack of coordination among various departments.
Such incidents have unreservedly exposed the internal problems of the Government. The different departments tried to pass the buck and it was only under pressure from the media that the departments concerned took any
Page 479 of 654
Page 479 of 654
Page 479 of 654
474
HONG KONG PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
MR. WONG KING-CHEUNG (on leave)
MR. SUEN KAI-CHEONG (attended another official meeting)
MR. YIU SIU-SING (out of town}
MR. KAM NAI-WAI (uttended another official meeting)
MS. JENNIFER CHOW KIT-BING (out of town)
MR. WEN CHOY-BON (attemled another official meeting)
MR. BENEDICT LEE SHUI-SING (on leave)
THE HON. HENRY WU KING-CHEONG (attended another official meeting) PROFESSOR SHANE ZEE SZE-YONG (on sick leave)
ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN (in Cantonese):-The Debate on the Statement of Aims for 1998/99 which was adjourned on Tuesday is now resumed. I call on the first speaker, Mr. Daniel To Boon-man.
MR. DANIEL TO BOON-MAN (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, after Hong Kong's reversion to China in 1997, three important events concerning the people's livelihood occurred, with far-reaching consequences. They are the bird flu epidemic, the fall in property prices and the stock market slump. The almost simultaneous occurrence of these events that placed Hong Kong in international headlines shows that there are some long-standing problems in Hong Kong which force us to give the matter serious thought.
According to the complexity theory which has been advanced in recent years, a crisis does not happen overnight. It is the result of a number of factors building up over the years. When the problem first started, it could have been solved easily and the cost of solving it would have been relatively low. But very often the parties concerned try to evade responsibility—individuals evade responsibility, organisations evade responsibility, and the government evades responsibility. In the end, the problems build up and take root. When they eventually break out, the situation gets out of control. This often happens within the framework of a government or council. Using the above-mentioned three major events as examples, I would like to express the following views:
(1) The bird flu incident shows that:
(a) the Government does not have any contingency plan to deal with a
crisis:
(b) the senior levels of the Government responded too slowly;
(c) when the problem first started, its gravity was not recognized and the
epidemic was not curbed at source in the very beginning; (d) the chicken slaughter operation lacked careful planning; (e) there was lack of coordination among various departments.
Such incidents have unreservedly exposed the internal problems of the Government. The different departments tried to pass the buck and it was only under pressure from the media that the departments concerned took any
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