Q Who, if anyone, should be blamed for the handling of Harbour Fest? I think the government deserves blame for spending time and money on an investigation of Harbour Fest to identify what, if anything, went wrong with the concerts. It's time to move forward and beyond all the what-ifs. Let's identify Harbour Fest as what it truly was (and hopefully will be in the future) - much determination and hard work to bring about many wonderful nights of quality music and joy to Hong Kong. Linda Noel, Tai Tam Q Who should be held responsible for the Harbour Fest? In two words: Mike Rowse! Wy Sun, Mid-Levels When you give $100 million to someone full of confidence but with no experience in organising concerts, the Harbour Fest fiasco is the predictable result. When you give a child full responsibility to do an adult's job, it's obviously the adult's fault. Mike Rowse, the government's frontman, and other officials involved, should take responsibility for wasting so much taxpayers' money. But you can't really blame the ex-AmCham head and his friends when Mr Rowse wrote them a blank cheque to do as they liked without government oversight. The organisers, in effect, admitted they made mistakes: the fest lasted too long with too many acts. In other words, it would have been a lot more cost-effective, far more successful and less controversial if they had stuck to fewer acts and a shorter period - the result of overambition without experience. In conclusion: the Harbour Fest investigators should only look into government mishandling and maladministration. Michael Hacking, Yuen Long On other matters ... In response to my letter published November 29, Chief Superintendent Tang How-kong claimed it was inaccurate and unfair for me to make allegations that the police were hiding the 'real' crime figures. I explained that by hiding I meant that if you do not report crime or turn a blind eye to it, there is statistically no crime. I do not suggest that police are 'cooking the books' by telling us there were, let's say, 10 murders when there were actually 20. Mr Tang then proceeds to say that it is one of the force's operational targets this year to maintain the fight against triad-related violence. Why is it only a target for this year? Shouldn't it be on top of the list every year? We had 14 major anti-triad operations in the first 10 months, yet every day police officers stop cars travelling to the airport for being 5-10km/h over the speed limit on a highway where 110km/h is allowed, and where, in my opinion, it is safe to drive at even higher speeds. I do not say you should not have speed traps but if we can spend so much time on checking cars for speeding then why do we not have constant inspections of triad-operated businesses in order to make crime more difficult? Mr Tang then informs us 2,000 people were arrested for triad-related offences. Can he also inform us for which type of offences these arrests were made, as the only ones we see on the news are the arrests of mainland prostitutes, whose activity I can hardly call violent. I realise that we live in one of the safest cities in the world. I'd like to keep it that way and that can only be if we do not get too complacent with 'real' crime. Otherwise we will get American or European type situations, where the criminals rule and the innocent civilian is punished from all sides. Looking at the latest figures, crime seems to be on the rise. I hope we can stop it and enforce a turnaround. I wish Dick Lee Ming-kwai, our new police commissioner, all wisdom and strength in doing so. Jeffry Kuperus, Repulse Bay I was shocked to hear Michael Tien Puk-sun, the KCRC chairman, say that cracks on railway tracks are not uncommon. His remark was made after a crack was found on the line at Kowloon Tong station last Friday, disrupting services and leaving thousands of commuters stranded. When the incident occurred during peak hours in the early morning, the KCRC did not immediately announce the disruption of services through the media, particularly the most immediate channels such as radio and TV stations, on the grounds that it could repair the crack quickly. After failing to do so, it claimed to have informed the media of the incident between 8am and 8.30am. As a passenger, I don't accept the apologies from the KCRC as it tried to hide the truth. Patrick Wong, Tsuen Wan A survey reveals that the number of secondary student gamblers has increased sharply. Fifteen per cent of them borrowed money to gamble. Most tried gambling after soccer betting was legalised. The problem is becoming more serious. Before legalisation, the official parties vowed that legalisation would not lead to an increase in the number of young gamblers. Now, it seems that was simply an empty promise. No action has been taken to educate the youth. Our government is shortsighted to take taxes from gamblers at the expense of the future of our society. They bet that legalisation will do little harm to society. The fact is that our government has lost the gamble. Youngsters learn how to spend before they learn how to earn a living. Some of them even borrow money to gamble. What will be the future of Hong Kong if we have leaders of this kind? The government should do its best to correct the misbehaviour of the youngsters. Otherwise, I cannot imagine what our homes will be like filled with gamblers in 20 years' time. Joyce Chan Chung-yan, Tsuen Wan
