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Letters

Paternity leave period should be seven days
For the past decade, there have been calls for paternity leave legislation in Hong Kong.
Four years ago civil servants were granted five days of paternity leave on full pay. Now, new fathers in private firms will be entitled to claim three days' leave on four-fifths of their annual pay. They can take these days before or after the birth of their child.
However, I believe that these fathers should be granted leave of seven days.
I do not think three days is enough time for the husbands to help their wives.
Women may suffer depression before or after the birth of a child and need all the love and care their husbands can offer.
Also, they will feel physically and emotionally drained after giving birth.
Three days is just not enough time for a father to provide that help and enjoy the special moments that come with the new arrival.
Also, I think it is in the interests of private firms for their employees to have a longer period of paternity leave.
Productivity is linked to loyalty and a staff member will in the long run be more efficient if he feels that loyalty because he has been given a decent period of paternity leave.
If there are complications after a child is born, the father will have to take leave anyway, perhaps without pay, and the firm will have to cover for him.
It is surely more sensible to guarantee him seven days and prepare in advance for that cover.
This is important in the service sector, where finding a replacement at short notice can be difficult.
Helen Wong Yan-lam,Yau Yat Chuen 
Complete ban on ivory trade is needed
I refer to the report ("Mainland bans ivory imports for 1 year", February 27).
The decision taken by the central government to ban the import of ivory is a welcome step towards recognition of the role the mainland and Hong Kong have played in bringing the African elephant population to the lowest numbers in history.
China takes as much as 70 per cent of the global illegal trade in ivory and Hong Kong has played a significant and shameful role in facilitating imports to China.
Not only have illegal shipments been increasing over the past five years (especially by sea) but authorities continue to turn a blind eye to the unethical and unsustainable trade in so called "legal" ivory.
Licences issued both here and on the mainland allow traders to sell ivory from their stockpiles of "legal" ivory obtained before the Cites (Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species) ban was introduced in 1989.
Allowing any legal trade in ivory encourages poaching and smuggling, and permits traders to argue their stock is ethically sourced.
Figures reported by local traders suggest that, magically, their stockpiles are not depleting, despite growing interest in ivory from mainland visitors and the increasing value of the commodity.
The reality is that only when the trade is banned completely can Hong Kong and China really claim to have played a part in ensuring a sustainable future for Africa's elephants.
Amanda S. Whitfort, associate professor, faculty of law, University of Hong Kong 
Young people face grim prospects
Property prices and rents are at now at prohibitive levels in Hong Kong.
In some cases, monthly rent or mortgage payments may take up 50 per cent of the total income of a household, which is prohibitive and imposes a heavy financial burden on people.
There is growing discontent over this issue, with citizens calling on the government to take action and tackle it.
The prospects are grim for young people who were born in the 1990s.
Many of them, if they are working, will only earn around HK$10,000 a month.
How can they even think about having any chance to own a flat? They would have to work for about 40 years to have enough.
Officials say they are concerned about this issue, but the government must do more to help young people who want to get married and start a family.
Yu Ka-ling, Kowloon Tong
Recycling policy put on back burner
I am currently doing a project to look into the effect of recycling bins, and I have found that available information on these bins is thin on the ground.
When the government introduced its three types of recycling bins in 1998, it did a lot to encourage people to separate their rubbish in order to recycle it.
However, it no longer appears to be showing the same enthusiasm.
I see very few adverts telling people about these recycling bins and urging citizens to use them.
The government appears to have shifted the emphasis to its proposed waste disposal tax, constructing an incinerator and expanding existing landfills.
I believe that the most effective way to ease the pressure on landfills is through more recycling.
Not only will the volumes of waste going to landfills be reduced, but recycled waste can be turned into useful materials.
I am not saying new policies were not needed, but recycling programmes were already in place and should have been enhanced.
This was the best way to deal with the problem of landfills nearing capacity.
The government needs to remind itself why it introduced these recycling bins back in 1998. With the right approach, its recycling policies can be successful again.
Yannis Mak, Tai Wai
Tensions that cannot be ignored
There have been a number of demonstrations held by citizens in the New Territories to protest about the disturbance caused by parallel goods traders.
The government has to recognise that the problem of these traders cannot be ignored even though their activities can bring economic benefits to some people.
The reason so many people object to them is because they compete for resources which can lead to shortages of some commodities such as milk powder. Also, the traders are regarded as impolite, which leads to confrontations between locals and mainlanders, and this can affect social stability.
The government should build a designated area with shopping malls for mainlanders and parallel goods traders, reached by shuttle buses.
The administration needs to recognise that whatever it decides to do, it should act swiftly.
Sabina Lam Siu-yin, Yau Yat Chuen
Violence hurts our hard-won reputation
It seems to me that there has been an escalation of tensions between mainlanders and Hongkongers in recent years.
The city's residents are blaming visitors for snapping up essentials such as milk powder for babies.
This leads to shortages in some parts of Hong Kong and when there is scarcity, prices go up.
However, no matter how angry people are with these parallel traders, they should never resort to violence when they are staging protests.
People need to think about the consequences of their actions.
How would tourists feel if, for example, they were visiting Sha Tin when one of the protests turned nasty last month? What impression would it leave them with about the city and about Hongkongers?
Some would conclude that citizens were poorly educated and uncultured.
Also, protests that turn violent undermine the image that Hong Kong has built up of being a shopping paradise. And a demonstration like that does not solve the problem of parallel traders.
People should ensure their protests remain non-violent and should not be aggressive towards the parallel traders, no matter what they think of their activities.
Chloe Yiu, Sha Tin
City's core values must be respected
I was shocked by the protest held on February 15 in Sha Tin, with some people calling for mainland visitors to "go back to the mainland".
When I went to the area, I saw that some shops had brought down their shutters and police had been called.
I decided to get a bus home and, on the bus, heard a number of passengers condemning the actions of the protesters. They said these people undermined law and order in Hong Kong.
I can understand the feelings of residents and some of the plazas in the area get very crowded with mainland shoppers. But some of the protesters, who clashed with mainland visitors, have gone too far.
Hong Kong seems to have changed since the Occupy Central movement and become more radical.
First, there were the protests in Central and now these demonstrations in Sha Tin, Tuen Mun and Yuen Long. However, some of these recent protests in the New Territories have not been peaceful and have caused people a lot of inconvenience.
People are entitled to express their views, but they must find peaceful ways to do this.
Hong Kong is my home and I want to see its core values respected and maintained.
Ada Fong Sau-yu, Sha Tin


Letters to the Editor, March 03, 2015

African elephants populations at all-time low. Photo: AFP

Opinion