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impossible for them to replace the regional bodies. Besides, I don't believe that the Legislative Council will have time to oversee the municipal services. Under such circumstances, we cannot imagine how we can communicate with the public and government departments on municipal matters without the regional bodies and a large number of Councillors (a total of 100 Councillors in the Municipal Councils). I feel that we are likely to enter into a lamentable era: we will lose the authority to oversee municipal services. As you are aware, we have done a lot of work in the recent past. What will things become if there's no Urban Councillor? I can tell you, the existing structure will become highly bureaucratized with no elected members to oversee municipal services, which certainly won't do any good. The Urban Council has a history of more than a century. I am afraid it's rather rash of the SAR Government, which has only come into operation for about a year, to dissolve the Urban Council. Actually, it is our hope that the SAR Government will allow the Urban Council to operate for one more term and then study the actual situation to see whether there should be a merger within the three-tier structure or reinforcement of supervision. Action should not be taken to dissolve the Council instantly after the transition as a lot of unnecessary problems will definitely arise in the future.
The Wan Chai Provisional District Board, which I serve, visited Macau several days ago. We also knew that there were some problems. As media coverage about Macau was entirely negative, a policy secretary whom we met also queried why the media only reported the dark side of Macau such as gunfights and triad societies. In fact, a lot of work including preparation for transition has been done but why is there no coverage? Why is there only coverage on the negative side? I hope that my colleagues in the Urban Council would also ask ourselves why most news about municipal services is negative; why positive reports about our work are seldom heard in radio, television and on newspapers. From what I saw in a number of committees, I know that actually every Councillor has been striving wholeheartedly for the provision of public facilities and welfare. Why are our many achievements not known to the public and the media and never or seldom reported? I think it would require our exercising caution in our words and actions. The Public Information Unit, which is responsible for issuing press releases should also strengthen their work in this aspect so as to avoid giving the public the impression that the Urban Council has never done anything to their satisfaction and was particularly perfunctory and careless in the past one or two years. Sometimes I hear citizens phoning the radio and television to criticize the Council and the Councillors as second-class. I am sad for this. Why are we so criticized and misunderstood after we have done so much work and have secured so much welfare for the public? Under the leadership of our Chairman, I believe that in the future 351 days we can change this misconception and we will no longer be the object of ridicule and condemnation of the public or Government departments. Some people criticize us in our face, some behind our backs. We think that they need not do it.
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iimpossible for them to replace the regional bodies. Besides, I don't believe that the Legislative Council will have time to oversee the municipal services. Under :such circumstances, we cannot imagine how we can communicate with the public and government departments on municipal matters without the regional bodies and a large number of Councillors (a total of 100 Councillors in the Municipal Councils). I feel that we are likely to enter into a lamentable era: we will lose the authority to oversee municipal services. As you are aware, we have done a lot of work in the recent past. What will things become if there's no Urban Councillor? 1 can tell you, the existing structure will become highly bureaucratized with no elected members to oversee municipal services, which certainly won't do any good. The Urban Council has a history of more than a century. I am afraid it's rather rash of the SAR Government, which has only come into operation for about a year, to dissolve the Urban Council. Actually, it is our hope that the SAR Government will allow the Urban Council to operate for one more term and then study the actual situation to see whether there should be a merger within the three-tier structure or reinforcement of supervision. Action should not be taken to dissolve the Council instantly after the transition as a lot of unnecessary problems will definitely arise in the future.
The Wan Chai Provisional District Board, which I serve, visited Macau several days ago. We also knew that there were some problems. As media coverage about Macau was entirely negative, a policy secretary whom we met also queried why the media only reported the dark side of Macau such as gunfights and triad societies. In fact, a lot of work including preparation for transition has been done but why is there no coverage? Why is there only coverage on the negative side? I hope that my colleagues in the Urban Council would also ask ourselves why most news about municipal services is negative; why positive reports about our work are seldom heard in radio, television and on newspapers. From what I saw in a number of committees, I know that actually every Councillor has been striving wholeheartedly for the provision of public facilities and welfare. Why are our many achievements not known to the public and the media and never or seldom reported? I think it would require our exercising caution in our words and actions. The Public Information Unit, which is responsible for issuing press releases should also strengthen their work in this aspect so as to avoid giving the public the impression that the Urban Council has never done anything to their satisfaction and was particularly perfunctory and careless in the past one or two years. Sometimes I hear citizens phoning the radio and television to criticize the Council and the Councillors as second-class. I am sad for this. Why are we so criticized and misunderstood after we have done so much work and have secured so much welfare for the public? Under the leadership of our Chairman, I believe that in the future 351 days we can change this misconception and we will no longer be the object of ridicule and condemnation of the public or Government departments. Some people criticize us in our face, some behind our backs. We think that they need not do it.
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