The better, and only moral alternative, is a philosophy of self-reliance with a voluntary scheme so employees and employers can objectively access this scheme on their own.

At the same time, the Mandatory Provident Fund Authority should be abolished and those responsible for this iniquity should apologise to all the people they have threatened or harassed over the last three years.

Finally, any comparisons between the MPF and proposals for both a sales tax and a medical savings fund are entirely justified. They all represent an attack on the right to property, independent thought and ultimately how one lives their own life.

SIMON PATKIN, Quarry Bay

Watch the perks

Civil servants should stop complaining about cuts in their salaries and benefits and 'learn' from their counterparts in government-owned corporations like the Airport Authority of Hong Kong.

As Hong Kong tightened its belt in a very bad year, the Airport Authority's five top directors took a $200,000 cut in salary each in the last financial year, according to its own annual report for the year ending March 31, 2004. At the same time they gave themselves a $400,000 bonus each, $200,000 more than the year before.

This is scandalous, in a year when Sars forced airlines and hotels to put staff on weeks of unpaid leave and so many people were put out of work because business was so bad. What is the justification? With two power failures within one month, how much more money are they going to award themselves now?

Financial Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen owes it to society to make sure taxpayers are not cuckolded when it comes to these corporations, and that hundreds of millions are not given away to directors when they are privatised. Otherwise these people will award themselves stock options and bonuses, for not lifting one finger to do any more than what they are paid to do, at inflated packages of up to $7.1 million a year. Keep a watch on the money Mr Tang.

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On the record

I refer to the article 'What the doctor ordered' (July 16) on the work of Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food. I wish to make a number of clarifications. On the government's handling of the Sars outbreak last year and Dr Yeoh's performance, I would like to draw your attention to the professional and comprehensive assessment by the international experts of the Sars Expert Committee. The committee concludes that, overall, the epidemic in Hong Kong was handled well, although system inadequacies were exposed during the early days of the epidemic when little was known about the disease or its cause. As regards the report published by the Sars Select Committee of the Legislative Council, its opinion was that Dr Yeoh's performance was 'not satisfactory' in certain specific aspects only. It is also noteworthy that the select committee report did not make any adverse comment on the overall performance of the government in handling the epidemic, nor did it pass judgment on whether the outcome would have been different.

THOMAS K. C. YIU, Deputy Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

Scrap cultural hub

Before concrete foundations are laid, before developers design yet more office and residential towers, the ridiculously expensive West Kowloon Cultural Hub project should be scrapped and a park should be built instead.

The park should have a promenade, ponds with appropriate fauna, fountains, and lots of shade-providing trees and sitting areas. Cycling and jogging lanes and some sports facilities would be good. With further reclamation in the harbour on hold, nobody knows if all the green areas designed for the Kai Tak reclamation will ever be built, so why not have the 'lungs of Kowloon' in an area already reclaimed? What's wrong with more greenery? Ah, it does not make a profit then.

HARRY CHEN, Mei Foo Sun Chuen

Promise not broken

I would like to set the record straight with regard to your article headlined 'Promise broken on cultural hub tenders' (July 15).

First, I was quoted as having said that the Steering Committee 'would make the final decision on the winning bid' and that it 'would review the marks awarded to each bid'. This is inaccurate. I did not say so at Wednesday's meeting. As I explained clearly at the meeting, the proposals will be assessed by the Proposals Evaluation Committee (PEC) comprising solely senior civil servants from relevant government bureaus and departments. Marks for each proposal will be given by this committee against the detailed assessment criteria clearly set out in the invitation for proposals. The steering committee will not be marking the proposals. It will receive the assessment report from the PEC and will ensure that the assessment process is done properly. This is exactly what we had stated on previous occasions that no principal officials will be involved to ensure the assessment process is fair and impartial. There is absolutely no question of the government breaking its promise

THOMAS TSO, Deputy Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands

Allow licensed bookies

Whilst as a racing fan the prospect of year-round racing is enticing, I fear that it is being proposed for all the wrong reasons. The spectacular falls in revenue and attendances at races in Hong Kong are just a reflection of a total failure to adapt to the increasingly sophisticated and demanding betting needs of punters. Hong Kong punters no longer wish to purchase the product being sold at the price demanded.

I suggest two other options which might be explored rather than be limited to the very biased proposals recently reported. First, ending the total monopoly that the Hong Kong Jockey Club has on legalised betting which fails to offer punters the best value, or any element of choice.

And second, allowing licensed independent bookmakers to operate in the territory that could offer risk-based betting to punters.

Licensed independent bookmakers and totaliser betting exist easily alongside one another in the UK, which has a booming racing and betting industry that is truly the envy of the world.

Given the very limited debate on the matter, I feel it would also be better to engage in a round of public consultation on the subject, so that for once the voice of the long-suffering Hong Kong punters can be heard.

S. DAVIES, Happy Valley

Abstinence unrealistic

While attention is drawn to the international aids conference in Thailand, I would like to say that abstinence is an admirable but totally unrealistic method in preventing the spread of HIV-Aids.

Abstinence, in spite of all the warnings designed to frighten people, just does not work. All the warnings against sex can not even prevent some Catholic priests from being sexually-active. Let's be realistic and rational about tackling the global HIV-Aids situation.

WILL LAI, Kowloon

Rich irony

Recently I read in the SCMP that Hong Kong is the second-richest territory in Asia after Japan.

In Hong Kong we have about 250,000 domestic helpers mainly from the Philippines, with smaller numbers from Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka. All these domestic helpers who come from countries, which are far less well off than Hong Kong and have much less-developed education systems, have the right to vote in democratic elections in their countries even when resident in Hong Kong.

It seems rather odd that Hong Kong's relatively richer and better educated residents are perceived in some quarters as not politically mature enough to have the same democratic voting rights as their domestic helpers.

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