Poverty think-tank appoints members
Social workers, businessmen and lawmakers picked
Three businessmen, four lawmakers and six social workers have been appointed to a government think-tank aimed at tackling poverty.
The Commission on Poverty will be chaired by Financial Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen, who said it would study and identify the needs of the poor and make policy recommendations to ease poverty and promote self-reliance.
Speaking during the Legislative Council debate on the policy address yesterday, he said the commission would determine the roles of the government, the social welfare sector and community organisations in alleviating poverty.
The 24-member commission comprises six top officials and 18 non-official members. It was set up under an initiative announced by Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa in his policy address two weeks ago.
The four legislators are Frederick Fung Kin-kee, chairman of the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood; Tam Yiu-chung, vice-chairman of the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong; Liberal Party chairman James Tien Pei-chun and unionist Li Fung-ying.
The social workers are Tik Chi-yuen, chief executive of the Hong Kong Society for the Aged; Ho Hei-wah, director of the Society for Community Organisation; Christine Fang Meng-sang, chief executive of the Hong Kong Council of Social Service; Law Chi-kwong, a former legislator representing the social welfare constituency; Commission on Youth chairman Philemon Choi Yuen-wan, and Jessie Yu Sau-chu, chief executive of the Hong Kong Single Parents' Association.
The three businessmen are Peter Wong Tung-shun, Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation's executive director designate for Hong Kong and the mainland; Ian Fok Chun-wan, president of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce; and Wilfred Wong Ying-wai, vice-chairman of Shui On Holdings.
May Chan Suk-mei, chairwoman of the News Executives Association, and University of Hong Kong professor of social work Nelson Chow Wing-sun, will also sit on the commission.
The other three non-official members are Hong Kong University of Science and Technology economist Chan Ka-cheung; economist Stephen Cheung Yan-leung of City University; and Leung Che-cheung, a Yuen Long district councillor.
