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Carrie Chan

As Tung Chee-hwa tours a mosquito black spot, Kowloon City residents demand 'honest' cleanup efforts from Patrick Ho

You don't hang around when you're wearing short sleeves at a mosquito hot spot. So it was with Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa yesterday as he toured the Palm Springs area of Yuen Long that is now the centre of Hong Kong's Japanese encephalitis scare.

Scratching his neck and bare arms, a sweaty Mr Tung stayed just 10 minutes after turning up 45 minutes late - much to the disappointment of waiting groups.

Dozens of workers had been clearing rubbish, cutting overgrown grass and spraying insecticide since about 8am. Mr Tung inspected their work with Health Secretary Yeoh Eng-kiong  and Home Affairs Director Pamela Tan Kam  Mei-wah.

But residents of the village, where more than 150 people live, said the large anti-mosquito effort was just a show for the senior officials and the media.

'I've been living here all my life and the government has never done anything large like this,' said Fanny Wong, a clerk in her 30s. 'They're just doing this for the senior officials. They never did anything like this for the visiting district councillors.

'Every now and then the workers would come to do anti-mosquito work, but they only do things half-heartedly.

'They would  cut small patches of grass and then just dump what they cut into the fishing ponds nearby.

'Often we have to pick up where they let off and clean the area properly ourselves. We've complained but no one ever listened.'

Another villager, 38-year-old chef Chuen Yu-keung, said he was surprised by the scale of yesterday's operation.

'I've never see so many people here,' he said of the army of workers, government officials and reporters at his village yesterday.

Although he too believed the large scale operation was a show, he was nonetheless happy to see the government's efforts, and hoped they would continue. 'It is quite good for them to carry out such a cleaning job,' he said.

'They did a smaller operation last time when Japanese encephalitis was found in [the nearby] Fairview Park, but there has been no follow-up.'

At the end of his brief visit, the chief executive also stressed the importance of keeping the environment clean.

'Sars and other infectious diseases, [like] bird flu, have reminded us about the importance of a clean living environment,' said Mr Tung. 'To prevent Japanese encephalitis, to take good anti-mosquito measures, needs powerful leadership from the special administrative region government and the enthusiastic participation of the public. Let's work together to build a healthier environment.'

And his health secretary said the Agricultural, Fisheries and Conservation Department would study the need for vaccinating pigs as it had been theorised that the animals could spread Japanese encephalitis.

'While we are stepping up our anti-mosquito campaign, we are considering whether we will vaccinate pigs,' said Mr Yeoh. 'We know  sows have antibodies and they will be passed onto the  piglets. The vaccination will become effective when the antibodies have disappeared,' he said.

He also said they had ruled out vaccinating humans at this stage because there were only a few cases in Hong Kong.

'There are pros and cons to vaccinating human beings. But I have asked the Health Department to study this issue,' he said.



Officials have village abuzz with 'show' visit