IDEAS TO REVIVE HONG KONG Our government has planned an income tax rebate. It hopes that this will create a feel-good factor and that the people will start spending more and therefore help local businesses. Although I will be one of the recipients of the maximum $3,000, I do not think this is money well spent. Why? People with the lowest incomes will receive nothing, as they do not pay taxes. Of the people who do pay taxes, those with the higher incomes receive the most. The government hopes we will spend the rebate when we get it. Like me, many others have sufficient cash reserves already. I did not stop spending because of Sars and I will not increase spending because of the rebate. Other people may just save it for another rainy day or pay off some debts. Those hit hardest, small business owners, will also not get any rebate despite the fact that they paid income or profits tax. It has been suggested the government give coupons instead of cash so that people will have to spend it in Hong Kong. I am not in favour of this, as I foresee that some will sell their coupons at, say, 90 per cent value to unscrupulous shop-owners, who will then collect the full amount. What, then, to do with the money set aside for the rebate? Create more temporary jobs and if possible permanent jobs. What type of jobs? First, buildings inspectors, who make their rounds checking whether buildings are well maintained, that rubbish is cleared on time and drainage is working properly. At every building where there is a problem, give the management X period of time (X depends on the severity and the minimum time needed) to fix it. If the problem is not fixed in time, the building management or owners will get severe penalties or jail time. Second, environmental workers: teams who check public areas to see that the street sweepers do their job, garbage bins are emptied on time, and that there are extra temporary garbage cans during festivals, holidays and weekends. Third, environmental law enforcers: these people fine anyone polluting Hong Kong, whether it be companies pumping their waste water illegally into our harbour or youngsters barbecuing at illegal places. Hong Kong people are encouraged, and there are rewards, to report any black spots to the environmental law enforcers. These officers should also check the washrooms in office and public buildings. The management will be subject to a fine for any found in a dismal state. I would not mind the introduction of the Singapore-style automatic powerful flush system for all washrooms (as whenever one of my customers needs to go to the washroom they prefer to go back to their hotel). Make it mandatory for each office building to have a washroom attendant, as there are in five-star hotels. This will create jobs for people with less education and will lift the management fee only a little. The creation of these jobs will produce security for people, unlike a spending spree where everybody is happy for a few days. I would also like to create a bonus pool for the health-care workers who have been risking their lives in fighting this disease. Each individual who was in harm's way doing their job (this includes cleaners) should get an equal amount or a sum based on hours spent on the 'frontlines'. This means, therefore, that a doctor who spends 400 hours on the frontline will get no more than a nurse in the same situation. They put their lives at risk and every life has the same value. In order to get tourism going again, give away tickets in the way that Cathay Pacific did a few years back to overseas family members of Hong Kong people. In this case, however, we can give tickets to anyone who is willing to book a hotel here for more than four nights. These people will see the real situation in Hong Kong and tell their families back home. We may even do this in co-operation with other Asian countries which have also been hit economically by Sars, like Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand. These countries, in combination with their national carriers and other local airlines, could make it an Asian tour. The main thinking behind this is that people are afraid to fly, as they may think they will get Sars in the plane or upon arrival. We therefore have to give them a little incentive to start travelling and hope that word of mouth afterwards will do the rest. JEFFRY KUPERUS Repulse Bay A REGIONAL RESCUE? The Hong Kong Civic Association applauds Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa's new initiative to overcome the Sars crisis, and to revive confidence in Hong Kong, both locally and internationally. More co-ordinated effort is needed between Hong Kong and Macau, Guangdong and Taiwan to maintain long-term investor confidence in the Pearl River Delta region. The early setting up of a communicable diseases control and prevention centre in Hong Kong is therefore a priority step towards this objective. We are encouraged by the appointment of Chief Secretary Donald Tsang Yam-kuen to spearhead the drive for a cleaner and healthier Hong Kong. We have previously urged the government to move faster in this direction. A cleaner Hong Kong with a higher quality of living is indispensable for us to prosper as a global city. Financial Secretary Antony Leung Kam-chung will have his work cut out to revitalise the local economy and keep on reminding the international community of Hong Kong's economic strengths and competitive advantages. The current crisis could be just the forerunner of other challenges, which makes it imperative for Hong Kong to be united in the effort to win the 'battle of the Sars'. By so doing, we will gain the respect and admiration of the rest of the world, and what is even more important, gain recognition that Hong Kong once again can successfully reinvent itself. HILTON CHEONG-LEEN Chairman Hong Kong Civic Association RECYCLING BINS USED WIDELY I refer to the letter from Jing Gu of Discovery Bay ('Where are recycling bins?' May 6) suggesting that Hong Kong has neither a waste separation programme nor scrap traders. To promote waste separation in Hong Kong, the government has placed over 22,000 waste separation bins at some 8,000 points throughout the territory. These include 1,200 housing estates covering 70 per cent of the population. In Discovery Bay where Mr Gu lives, there are 88 sets of waste separation bins available for use by the residents. Apart from the placement of waste separation bins, the government also amended the Buildings Regulation in 2000 to require developers to provide sufficient space in new buildings to facilitate waste separation and recovery. For scrap traders, there are over 400 companies in Hong Kong engaging in the waste-recycling business and they recovered about 1.9 million tonnes of waste, with revenue of some $2 billion, in 2002. The domestic waste recovery rate has increased from 8 per cent to 13 per cent. In addition, the government is pursuing many other initiatives to enhance waste reduction and recovery. Information about these initiatives is available on the Web site of the Environmental Protection Department: http// www.epd.gov.hk . LAWRENCE WONG Principal Environmental Protection Officer for Director of Environmental Protection Department SUICIDE HOTLINE SWAMPED The Samaritans, a suicide prevention hotline manned by volunteers, are receiving an increasing number of calls. In 2002, we answered a total of nearly 29,000 calls and this year already the daily rate appears to be rising. There are about 90 Samaritans serving the only multilingual suicide prevention hotline to maintain a 24-hour service and we are barely managing. We need more volunteers. Could you be a Samaritan? You need to be over 21, willing to be trained, respectful and sensitive, punctual and reliable. We ask only four hours a week of a volunteer. Our next training course in English starts on May 17, with an open evening tomorrow. Everyone is welcome, in particular bilingual, English and Cantonese speakers and those who speak other languages. Contact us at tel 2896 0000 or samadmin@netvigator.com . THE ACTING DIRECTORS The Samaritans Multilingual Suicide Prevention Service
