By James Tien

Legco has been following up several controversial issues, including the Public Order Ordinance, public housing construction problems and the appointment of a Chief Secretary for Administration, which have been widely debated over the past few months. I am actively involved in these discussions and because these issues have aroused much concern within the community, I feel I should brief you on my work related to these topics.

Public Order Ordinance stabilises business environment
Criticism that the Public Order Ordinance suppresses personal freedom to hold demonstrations and public processions has been on the rise in recent months, to such an extent that the administration was urged to revise and even scrap the ordinance altogether. Despite being hotly debated for over eight hours in Legco, a decision was made to keep the ordinance, and I was one of the legislators voting in favour of it.

I support preserving the Public Order Ordinance for two reasons. First, based on the number of demonstrations and public processions held in Hong Kong, there is no evidence to support the argument that the ordinance suppresses personal freedom. Over 6,900 demonstrations and processions have taken place in Hong Kong since the handover in 1997, of which, 4,000 gave prior notification to the police. Only five of these were served with "notice of objection" on the grounds of public safety and order.

However, three of those were approved after organisers revised the marching routes and the number of participants in each event. Hong Kong even allowed demonstrations by Falun Gong followers, despite being banned in Mainland China, exemplifying the "one country two systems." All this shows that the right for the public to hold processions and public meetings is fully respected and protected.

Second, the Public Order Ordinance helps maintain a stable business environment. The right to hold demonstrations and public processions is important, but a proper balance should be struck between the right and the interests of the community at large.

Notifying the police of such events allows them to make traffic arrangements which facilitates protestors' demonstrations by removing any obstacles, and minimises inconvenience to the general public and businesses. Many metropolises around the world, such as Washington, Chicago, San Francisco, New York, Vancouver, Tokyo, et cetera have similar requirements. As such, I do not see any reason why the government should abolish or revise the existing Public Order Ordinance.

Probe into public housing policy and structure
On the issue of the quality of public housing, legislators proposed establishing a committee to investigate the short piling saga at four public housing estates. I support the establishment of such a committee because the three inquiries conducted by several government departments and groups have so far failed to resolve some critical issues, including how to ensure the quality of public housing projects built in the future.

I think these incidents are not inter-independent or isolated issues, but are related to the operation and policies of the watchdog. Therefore, I suggested comprehensively reforming public housing policies and whether the Housing Authority needs to be restructured, dismantled or abolished altogether. These views were adopted by the majority of legislators, and the motion is scheduled to be tabled for discussion. I will inform you of the resolution when it is announced.

Successor for Chief Secretary for Administration
The other issue which aroused much public debate is the Chief Secretary for Administration Anson Chan Fang On-sang's announcement that she would retire in April. I regret that Mrs Chan has decided to resign, but nonetheless respect her decision. There has been much speculation about why she is leaving, but I think we should put more energy into selecting a successor.

At the time of writing, the government had yet to announce any candidate for the post. I personally think the post of Chief Secretary for Administration -- as a leader of the civil service -- would be best filled by someone already in the civil service. As such, the present Financial Secretary, Donald Tsang, would be the right person for the job.