The report headlined 'Learning fund's bar on elderly 'unfair' ' (South China Morning Post, March 25) and the letter headlined 'Older people facing poverty thanks to ageist employers' (Post, March 26) refer to age discrimination. I can add another example. I have a letter from the Hong Kong Automobile Association naming insurance companies which refuse to write third party insurance for drivers over 70, even if they are licensed to drive. The impression gained, for example by the use of the word 'ageist', is that people regard the authorities as having a specific prejudice against the elderly. I do not believe this is the case. How could it be when history records the outstanding performance of elderly people, such as Giuseppe Verdi who wrote his best operas when he was over 80, or our own Chief Executive and prominent Beijing rulers, and even the Queen, who are still functioning strongly at an advanced age? I believe the problem is an inherent characteristic of bureaucrats, both government and those in the private sector, who favour the easy way out. They know that people's capabilities deteriorate as they get older and it is so much easier to stick a figure into a regulation than to devise and carry out a method of assessing people's capabilities. Besides, it avoids accountability. If a bureaucrat enforces an age enshrined in a regulation who can question his action? The fact that so many bureaucrats are falling back on this lazy and irresponsible device convinces me that this is the real trouble. I should add that my remarks do not apply to the Commissioner for Transport who reasonably requires drivers over 70 to pass a medical test, after which he will license them to drive. However, others, such as the Secretary for Education and Manpower, the Commissioner for Insurance and many company managers, are willing to appear fearful of accountability rather than make the effort to avoid age discrimination. Hopefully the Chief Executive's new policy of ministerial recruitment will set a trend against this unacceptable practice. KEN BRIDGEWATER New Territories
