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various concepts have been muddled up. Dissolution of an elected council is an issue of democratic structure and one of political development. It will be for our community to give views and propose reforms. From this angle, this is all about political development, not actual administrative work or administrative efficiency. So to put it clearly, concepts have been muddled up and that is why the document has come under a lot of criticism.
Even if we do not speak of making pretexts to dissolve the two Municipal Councils, this situation is not logical. Let me speak in simple terms. The Airport Authority made such a big mistake, does it mean we have to dissolve it? There were many incidents at hospitals of the Hospital Authority, do we need to dissolve it? I can go on. The number of complaints against the Housing Authority lodged with ICAC and the Ombudsman's Office topped the list in past years, does it mean we have to dissolve it? Let us speak about the assets of the people of Hong Kong. We are now suffering under the low economic condition, can we ask the Chief Executive to be responsible for our present state of hardship? Do we need to ask the Chief Executive to step down? Is dissolving the two Municipal Councils really a logical move? Let us not talk about the pretext for dissolution. Let us just ask if a lethal mistake has been committed? To my mind, grounds for scrapping the Councils cannot be established from the points of logic and concept.
I am an Urban Councillor and a District Board Member. The Administration has never told District Board Members about their future, their powers or their accountability upon reorganisation. What kind of participation are we to have in policy formulation? What happens now is that money is used to get people's support. District Board Members have not been given any good undertaking. I believe that members of the two Municipal Councils should put aside party lines and political views. We should stand in the same boat and clarify things. If we are to be dissolved, we should at least make a clean breast of matters. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman (in Cantonese): Those who registered to speak have spoken. Will Mr. CHAN Kwok-leung exercise his right of reply? If there is need to, you can take the remaining seven minutes to respond.
MR. CHAN KWOK-LEUNG (in Cantonese): As I said, the original and amendment motions are more or less the same. Administrative dictatorship in the original motion and dissolving the two Municipal Councils and taking back powers in the amendment motion are merely two sides of the silver dollar. In fact, we have come to a consensus that the consultation process is burdened with flaws. Indeed, public opinion was consulted for the review, but then government distorted public opinion. It was quite clear that the majority of our people supported merging of the two Municipal Councils, but as soon as the submissions got to the hands of government, they became support for dissolving the two councils. Government called a spade something else and
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1 606
294
PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
various concepts have been muddled up. Dissolution of an elected council is an issue of democratic structure and one of political development. It will be for our community to give views and propose reforms. From this angle, this is all about political development, not actual administrative work or administrative efficiency. So to put it clearly, concepts have been muddled up and that is why the document has come under a lot of criticism.
Even if we do not speak of making pretexts to dissolve the two Municipal Councils, this situation is not logical. Let me speak in simple terms. The Airport Authority made such a big mistake, does it mean we have to dissolve it? There were many incidents at hospitals of the Hospital Authority, do we need to dissolve it? I can go on. The number of complaints against the Housing Authority lodged with ICAC and the Ombudsman's Office topped the list in past years, does it mean we have to dissolve it? Let us speak about the assets of the people of Hong Kong. We are now suffering under the low economic condition, can we ask the Chief Executive to be responsible for our present state of hardship? Do we need to ask the Chief Executive to step down? Is dissolving the two Municipal Councils really a logical move? Let us not talk about the pretext for dissolution. Let us just ask if a lethal mistake has been committed? To my mind, grounds for scrapping the Councils cannot be established from the points of logic and concept.
I am an Urban Councillor and a District Board Member. The Administration has never told District Board Members about their future, their powers or their accountability upon reorganisation. What kind of participation are we to have in policy formulation? What happens now is that money is used to get people's support. District Board Members have not been given any good undertaking. I believe that members of the two Municipal Councils should put aside party lines and political views. We should stand in the same boat and clarify things. If we are to be dissolved, we should at least make a clean breast of matters. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman (in Cantonese):-Those who registered to speak have spoken. Will Mr. CHAN Kwok-leung exercise his right of reply? If there is need to, you can take the remaining seven minutes to respond.
MR. CHAN KWOK-LEUNG (in Cantonese): As I said, the original and amendment motions are more or less the same. Administrative dictatorship in the original motion and dissolving the two Municipal Councils and taking back powers in the amendment motion are merely two sides of the silver dollar. In fact, we have come to a consensus that the consultation process is burdened with flaws. Indeed, public opinion was consulted for the review, but then government distorted public opinion. It was quite clear that the majority of our people supported merging of the two Municipal Councils, but as soon as the submissions got to the hands of government, they became support for dissolving the two councils. Government called a spade something else and
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