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When it's time to bury the hatchet
John Wilson ('Bombing tragedies not forgotten', July 19) seems to think that because he had to bury his best friend killed in a bomb attack, he finds the bombers in the 1967 riots unforgivable and unforgettable.
I fund such thinking irrational and feel the same about his comment on former bomb-maker Kwok Hing-lau. 
Your correspondent asked if Kwok would have been as unrepentant about the campaign if it had been his children who had fallen victim to a bomb. 
In any case Kwok had decided to launch the bomb attacks after two union members were shot dead. 
It is not a question of whether John Wilson should forgive and forget the 1967 bombers but a question of whether it is now time to move on. 
This is what former Provisional IRA leader Martin McGuinness did last month when he shook hands with Queen Elizabeth. 
They were putting behind them the events of the past, such as the shooting dead of 13 unarmed civilians during Bloody Sunday in 1972, at the height of the IRA bombing campaign, and the murder by the IRA of Lord Mountbatten in 1979. 
It is not difficult to understand the perpetration of such tragedies, when seen in context and in the time frame of when they occurred. Nobody thinks they are now justifiable.
Peter Lok, Chai Wan 
Hong Kong citizens must speak out
 There have been calls from some quarters for Hongkongers to refrain from pushing Beijing on the death of activist Li Wangyang . 
It is argued that by doing so we are interfering in mainland activities and this is something we should avoid, just as Beijing should not involve itself in Hong Kong's affairs. 
This brings to mind the Chinese saying, 'Families should only take care of the snow on their doorstep, and should not bother with the frost on their neighbour's eaves.'
However, the real world does not work that way, especially if there has been a perceived injustice.
 To extend the metaphor, if you saw your neighbour's boy going to school with terrible bruises and suspected he was a victim of abuse, would you not make a report to the appropriate authorities? 
 What if you were told your neighbour's uncle had hanged himself but you witnessed the scene and noticed that his feet were on the ground? You would have a moral obligation to speak out. 
True friends should point out each other's failings. 
As a Hong Kong citizen I welcome criticism from anyone, including the mainland. 
We may have two systems but we are one country, China. We are in this together for the long run. 
Simon Au, Kowloon Tong 
Aim is to save money, not sharks
That the central government intends to rationalise public expenditure on official banquets within three years, by reducing expenditure on luxury foods, is a welcome development. 
Banquets are an important aspect of cultural hospitality, but they rarely need to be extravagant and overly expensive to achieve their goal. 
For the marine products industry, it may well mean that some luxury items may be excluded from future menus, but it does not mean, as you claim in your editorial that the initiative is about saving sharks ('Shark-fin banquet ban needs support', July 11). 
It is about saving money. Shark fins come in many different grades and qualities, and some of the lower priced fins come from shark fisheries such as Canada and Australia, certified as being sustainable. 
Hence money can be wisely saved without losing the traditional option of serving shark's fin at official banquets.
Charlie Lim, chairman, conservation and management committee, Marine Products Association 
Revamp of information laws essential
 Shelving the copyright amendment bill was a good decision and allows the business and creative community to develop a more suitable framework for intellectual property for Hong Kong's knowledge-based economy. 
Copyright regimes are under review in many countries, as laws designed with the purpose of creating economic incentives for innovation by protecting creators' rights now create more barriers than economic benefits. 
From an economic point of view, an intellectual property regime should enable knowledge flows, open innovation, efficient exchanges of know-how, and provide an easy mechanism to do so for buyers and sellers.  
 Harnessing knowledge and ideas is the only sustainable basis for wealth creation in a natural resources-poor city like Hong Kong. Therefore the new government should develop a better intellectual property framework which could accelerate value creation across the economy and society. For example, under the current copyright regime, cultural and commercially useful works are locked away for generations for want of an owner to give permission for their use, which is a missed opportunity for anyone working in the creative or education sector.  
Along with a revision of the copyright bill, Hong Kong's archaic code on access to information could also be updated since it is hindering access and use of public information. 
Many advanced knowledge economies create whole new markets for public data, allowing third parties to use statistics, geo-spatial, health, scientific, and economic data to create new services and applications through open licensing of government information. 
In Hong Kong, the economic potential of these untapped information resources has not been analysed.  
Copyright is just part of a whole set of information laws, which need to be aligned to support economic and social development based on knowledge, ideas and other intangible resources.  
Waltraut Ritter, Sheung Wan
Parking meter idea defies logic
Hong Kong has some of the cheapest roadside metered parking for a developed city anywhere in the world and there are plenty of quasi-free unmetered spots in most districts including the main business areas. 
Many people happily risk a fine parking illegally due to the managed levels of ticketing and relatively low fines. This low-cost roadside parking (on some of the planet's most expensive land) results in drivers cruising the streets looking for spots seriously adding to the city's congestion and pollution. 
So I cannot understand why the Transport Department  announced it plans to replace all the efficient Octopus meters with ones that will allow the car owners of the city to top up parking meters by SMS effectively allowing all-day parking at a heavily subsidised rate.
 Perhaps before spending more of our money the government can look at ways to increase revenue from the current system by converting more free spaces to metered spaces and substantially increasing the rates in the city's busier districts. 
Edward Rossiter, Tai Wai 
Department's bill could be more polite
Could someone in the Water Services Department do some of us a favour by altering the wording on its English language bills?
It irks me every time I see the statement that the Water Supplies Department 'demands' payment. I actually find it rather rude and no one else who bills me uses the same wording.
I find that asking politely for something reaps much better returns so, with life in Hong Kong being demanding enough at times, please drop the demand.
Stuart Brookes, Shek Tong Tsui 
Education empowers pensioners
I refer to the letter by Jessica Tsang Kit-yi ('Tough laws to protect the elderly', July 17). 
 The best way to help the elderly is to give them a good education when they are young. They develop the necessary skills to succeed in society and are more self-reliant when they reach retirement age.
 They can then continue with their education. This lifelong learning process can help them to protect themselves against people who try to exploit them.  I am not sure how effective tougher laws would be. 
Pang Chi-ming, Fanling



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