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Following is the transcript (English part)of the Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa, taking questions from callers at a radio phone-in programme this (Thursday) morning:

Question: Good morning, Mr Tung. May Ng, from Friends of the Earth.

Mr Tung: How are you?

Question: I have got two questions for you Mr Tung. First of all, well, thanks to you, Hong Kong people could finally catch our breath. We welcome your initiative to introduce the LPG taxi scheme by the year 2000 and the banning of leaded-petrol by 1999. But I would like to ask, are there any considerations for interim measures, like setting up diesel-engine maintenance? And, also, have you ever considered setting up no-idling engine time zones near kindergartens, hospitals, old people's homes and schools?

My second question concerns water-pollution. You mentioned about cleaning up the water and continue with a $20 billion strategic sewage disposal strategy. I wonder if you are aware that stage one of that strategy is in a mess. How much have you been briefed and informed about the magnitude of that problem due to bad planning, leakage, delay, cost overrun and serious environmental impacts? Well, it could have been another bureaucratic nightmare after the new airport. Well, have you been kept in the dark?

Finally, have your policy makers looked at risk assessments and contingency planning? For example, in case the centralised sewage scheme is blocked or breaks down, have your bureaucrats given thought to a value-added sewage strategy: recycling sludge, instead of dumping into our landfills recycling grey-water instead of dumping into somebody else's backyard.

Well, Mr Tung, what I am talking about is bureaucracy efficiency. I have repeatedly written to you to conduct a public inquiry on this controversial scheme. But why didn't you listen?

Mr Tung: May, thank you very much. Let me first say that I, myself, and my colleagues in the government, attach a great deal of importance to quality of life in Hong Kong, to the need for greater and better environmental protection. This is about our air, about our water, about waste-disposal. And we are doing this not just for ourselves but for generations to come, and also the ability to attract some of the best to come and live and work in Hong Kong. So it is also very fundamental to our economic future.

Having said that, yes, we are determined to make our air cleaner. I have taken note of the suggestions you have made. Insofar as interim measures are concerned, how to clean up the air, one or two things we are already planning to do. One or two things you have suggested, about idling engines and so on, we will take a look at it carefully. And insofar as the first stage strategic sewage disposal is concerned, yes, I am aware of the difficulties we have got ourselves into. And secondly, yes, we will be a lot more careful as we move forward, making sure that our plan is as good as it can be.

And I just want to assure you, all these things have a great deal of attention from very senior people in the government, including myself. So be assured that we will be very careful as we move forward.

Question: I would like to comment that the report is a stabilised report which provides good direction overall, but I would like to comment that the report fails to mobilise and involve the grass-roots people. I think, in a way, it very, very much, say, corresponds to the way that the government has been run for the last year. That is to say that Mr Tung and the Exco members, they run the government from the ivory tower without, really, say, involving the people or getting in touch with people at the grass roots.

I would like to quote an example. At the report, you mentioned that you are going to focus on technology and, say, the high-end telecommunication technology, but I would like to tell you that all your present committees and all the channels are being jammed and crowded by academia, run-betweens and bureaucrats. I, myself, I do have a good idea which I picked up from Taiwan - because you always mention that they have a kick-start to our economy, to our technology development - but when I try to access and give opinion, try to have my opinions being voiced, they are all being jammed. And then, in a way I still feel worried that maybe my idea is being taken away. So there must be some venue that whereby your government can have access - where the public can have direct access to the Government of Hong Kong.

I would like to quote an example, like in America, whereby the people can voice their opinion at city councils, at the city forums, whereby the senior people, the senior government officials listen to the people, and without having all these people running between and having all these bureaucrats out jamming the way. That is my only opinion.

Presenter: Okay, let Mr Tung answer that question. Mr Tung, are you living in an ivory tower with your Exco members? And what about public access to the people who are responsible for helping them to run their lives?

Mr Tung: May I know your name first, please?

Question: My name is Leung, David.

Mr Tung: David, let me tell you this. In July, August and September, during the three month period, every day I meet and I receive people of different walks of life in Hong Kong, and overseas visitors, on the average of two and a half to three hours a day. I see about four groups of people every day. I talk to them, I listen to them very carefully. Maybe these do not appear in the newspapers.

Question: Definitely!

Mr Tung: But my style is a very open style. I like to listen to people, I like to understand the pulse of the people and then before taking decisions, you are that much wiser. So please do rest assured, I am not living in an ivory tower.

And secondly, insofar as yourself is concerned, David, I sympathise with you and I would like to suggest, at least for the time being, if you have good ideas drop me a note, let me know what you are thinking about, and I will be very happy to look into it.

Question: What is the venue and how can I be able to access you?

Mr Tung: You just put it in the post. Write to me and address it to Tung Chee Hwa and so be it.

Question: And then, Mr Tung, you know this is something that we have never been told and were never aware of.

Mr Tung: Well, now you are aware of it, please do it. And in fact a whole lot of people do write to me actually.

Question: Okay. Thank you very much.

Presenter: Thank you Mr Tung. Mr Tung is available to the public and a very busy man, and meeting the public, because you have been criticised in the past, have you not, for remaining in the woodwork and only coming out of the woodwork on certain occasions. You obviously deny that charge.

Mr Tung: I do, absolutely.

Question: Good morning, Mr Tung. My name is Miss Golden, I would like to speak to you about cleaner air, which is item 118 in your Policy Address - way down on the bottom. Mr Tung, when it comes to breathing, we don't have a choice. We have many choices in our lives but the air that we breathe, we must breathe. And I say to you, Mr Tung, what are you afraid of? Why are you so soft? Why do we have to go so slowly, when the solution to our problems is very easy and very clear? We have a fleet of vehicles, diesel-powered vehicles, that contribute to 50 per cent of the air-pollution. Those vehicles do not pay any penalties for operating in ways that restrict our health. Why do we have to wait until the end of the year 2000 for an LPG conversion of our taxi fleet. The technology is available to us now. There are many countries in the world which have operated for years and years with very high safety records, et cetera.

Yes, thanks, that you are finally going to put into practice the LPG scheme. Yes, it will take time. Does it really take another three years? How many more people will die? Last year, 2,000 deaths attributable directly to respiratory diseases. How many billions of dollars do we pay to keep our citizens healthy? We have already seen, in the last couple of weeks, that our pollution levels in Hong Kong are as high or if not higher than those of Mexico City and Bangkok, which are considered the most polluted cities in the world. We can do something now. We can legislate higher fees. We can have random roadside testing.

We put into effect, several years ago, random roadside testing for breath-analysis. Why can't we do the same for smoky vehicles? And why can't our transport officers or police be given the power to haul vehicles in and have them tested immediately, and then a fee schedule which is not a mere $450 and a little slap on the wrist, but something that hurts, something that says: Wow! Ouch! I've got to do something.

Presenter: Okay, Mr Tung, stop dragging your feet.

Mr Tung: Thank you very much. I think we all share very much your concern, Miss Golden. I wish it was done yesterday. I wish it was done a year ago. I wish it was done ten years ago. But it was not, and we are doing it now, and we are trying to do it as fast as we can, I can assure you of that. Why does LPG take up to the year 2000, for instance? Well, one of the reasons is this, that in Hong Kong land is very scarce. We need to find filling-stations that can accommodate these tanks when the taxis need filling. We have to find them, we have then to build them, we have to import taxis. We have to do all these things. It is not actually three years, it is two years - and let's try to do it shorter. That is all we want to do, we want to do it as quickly as possible.

And insofar as all the other points you have mentioned, I have also mentioned them in the Policy Address. We are trying to get on with it as fast as we can. For too long, the quality of our air and water has been neglected. We have got to get on with it. I agree with you entirely.

Presenter: Mr Tung, may I just pick it up on one point. I think, two or three times now, you have mentioned that perhaps we would not be in the state we are in at the moment if perhaps there had been more planning. You mentioned ten years ago. Do you blame, perhaps, the colonial administration of ten years ago of being rather too complacent and not having enough foresight?

Mr Tung: I think the priorities are very different at that time and the demand is very different, and so I would not say that. I think it is just the priorities are different. But today, it is really important. And the fact that we have more automobiles than we have ever had before, that is also a reason.

Question: Good morning, Mr Tung. I am prepared to discuss, to talk to you again, but this time in the English channel. Last year I talked to you in the Chinese channel but this year I cannot phone in to the Chinese channel because there are too many calls. And I would like you to answer me in Chinese because I think I can know them more clearly.

My question is, there is already another audience phoned to you that they would like to see... that you can see them, but I can tell you the facts that, after the last year's phone-in, I wrote to you many times but you have not given me any reply, and I am asking to see you but only your private secretary wrote the letters to me that just acknowledged my letter, but then you have not made any reply. But I now ask to see you. Can you arrange a time and a place and venue for me?

Mr Tung: I know who you are. How are you? My private secretary has in fact kept me posted. When he writes to you, he does so on my behalf. I know that many in the government have made efforts to find work for you and we will continue to do so. But all I can ask you is that you might have to re-think about your own demands and conditions as to what you want. No, I will be happy to organise, probably not for the time being but in due course for you to come to see me.

Question: But how long do I need to wait?

Mr Tung: I will let my colleagues get in touch with you and try to do it in due course.

Question: But I have written to you in the past several months ago, but still did not get any reply.

Mr Tung: I am aware of that.

Presenter: I am sure you will be replying to that caller. You can call-in in English and Chinese of course. 23388266 on the English side. Mr Tung, a question which has come up numerous times this morning has been the economic woes, unemployment. What is the way forward? You have said there is no magic-wand but how can you help the community now, today, tomorrow, when it comes to finding work, somehow avoiding the pay-cuts, avoiding being thrown ...

Mr Tung: ... We are a very externally oriented economy but we are a free market economy and the economy adjusts very quickly, one way or the other. Property prices have adjusted, other adjustments are taking place - including down-sizing of organisations. These, unfortunately, are the inevitable prices of a bubble-economy. I just want to tell everybody that if you think back, how long did it take the United States to adjust to come to where it is today? In the late 80's, early 90's, the United States went through a very painful period, and after the painful adjustment they are where they are today.

Presenter: Are people in the housing estates right to say that you are favouring the big business, the developers, the property tycoons, and not those who are living on the housing estates?

Mr Tung: Nick, I want to assure you that this government does everything for the six and a half million people. We need to create conditions for economic growth, for sustained economic growth, and this is what we are trying to do. No less than that.

Let me say one more thing to you, that the recovery of our economy, in the short term, depends a great deal on external environment, on how the interest rate might be coming down, how the property prices can be stabilised, and how we can rebuild our own confidence. Now all these four factors are very, very important, they are all interrelated. Insofar as interest rate is concerned, I believe what the Hong Kong Monetary Authority has done recently has paved the way for a gradual stabilisation of interest rate. It was very important.

I would hope, also, that what we have done during the year and what I have said recently about the property market, will help to stabilise the property market, because stabilising the property market is very important to the recovery of our economy. It is not about helping the big real estate developers, or not even about helping anybody who owns apartments, it is about stabilising our economy and getting it to grow again.

And insofar as the external environment is concerned, it is very difficult to predict. But what we have seen recently is that the United States' interest rate is trending downwards and the US dollar has become a lot weaker recently, and these are very important to Hong Kong. And on top of that, the hedge funds, some of them are having difficulties. Now, all these factors will have a very important impact to our financial market here, and hopefully all these things will be very, very helpful to us.

All I want to say now, and I want to emphasise is that, let all of us in Hong Kong not lose confidence in ourselves. That is the most important thing. We have gone through difficulties before, this one is more difficult than any one we have faced before, but never mind, we will overcome it.

Presenter: What about confidence in you and your administration?

Mr Tung: Well, I am quite sure that if you sit back and think about it, read through carefully the report and think through all the things we have done during the course of this year, I think we have done all right.

Question: Good morning. I have two questions. One is regarding the air quality, and I would like to ditto Miss Golden's earlier sentiments and increase that question to about the buses. Coming from California, the pollution there used to be so terrible. And I was back there recently, they have changed almost all their buses to LPG gas buses and the pollution has decreased dramatically. And I had heard, at one point, that here in Hong Kong the bus companies rejected that because of the cost, and I think the cost of people's lives is far more important.

Presenter: Mr Tung, I think a call there, really, saying again about LPG and can the government move more quickly on this issue.

Mr Tung: Well, let me tell you that before I became Chief Executive I visited California seven or eight times a year, so I know exactly what you are talking about. And, also, I have seen for myself how air quality improved in California over the years. And we are determined to achieve the same objective. We'll try to do it quickly. How we do it and what steps, I would prefer not to discuss it at this programme, but our determination is there.

Question: Good morning, Mr Tung. I wondered, some point on the Policy Address in relation to the paragraph on our legal system. And you said that we are very concerned with our legal system and our rule of law in Hong Kong. However, what I have read in the Policy Address is that there is totally 171 paragraphs and there is only one paragraph concerning our legal system. How can you say to our Hong Kong people that we are very concerned with this. As compared with the paragraph on the social problems or economic downturn, you have spent more than one hour in reading during the reading yesterday in the Legislative Council. So how do you respond to that?

And also, in relation to the point you mentioned in our legal system, you said that we will promote, through our international community, that our rule of law in Hong Kong is doing fine, our legal system is doing good in Hong Kong after the change of the sovereignty. Is there any indication that what we now have, the legal system in Hong Kong, is deteriorating, because if it is not so worse or not so good, you don't need to explain to the international community that our legal system is still very good. Just like you said that we do not need to say a lovely song to the international community. So how can you explain that?

And also, in relation to the point that you will increase the job vacancies in the Prosecutions Division in the Department of Justice. However, I just have some doubt on that point because I can't see any effectiveness on this increased job vacancies in the Prosecutions Division of the Department of Justice. Mr Tung, as you may recall from a few months that there is a case, the Wu Sin (Sally Aw?) case, that our Secretary of Justice solely made the decision that the Hong Kong SAR Government will not prosecute this Wu Sin.

Presenter: Let's not talk about specific cases, but a question there on the one paragraph in your Policy Address, paragraph 156.

Mr Tung: Let me try to answer as quickly as possible. I want to assure you about Wu Sin or anybody else. Nobody in Hong Kong is above the law. That includes me.

And the second point is that I hope you do not measure the importance attached to everything by the length of each paragraph, because the fact is that the concern of the community is in fact in the areas of economy and so on.

Number three point is that there are a lot of overseas misconceptions as to what is happening in Hong Kong. It is getting a lot better but we need to continue to make these efforts. But we are proud of what we have done in the legal aspect and we want to continue to do well in that aspect.

Chief Executive's transcript at phone-in (Chinese)

End/Thursday, October 8, 1998

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