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SCMP Reporter

Q Is the loss of 100 trees a fair exchange for a horticultural garden?

One can only wonder why the Housing Authority persists in pushing this project in Stanley when involvement in tourism projects is completely outside this department's brief.

Concerned citizens can only surmise that this is actually yet another Tourism Commission project that the government is pushing through other channels because of the growing discontent within the community with the number and scope of tourism-related projects in progress. Many of these projects do not benefit local residents and divert funding from what many Hong Kong people consider to be more pressing issues. It is therefore essential that the public be made fully aware of the true intent and purpose of this project rather than  keep a hidden agenda that will surely surface sooner or later.

Our legislators would be well advised to ask questions now to avoid any future recriminations, as occurred in the harbour reclamation saga.

Candy Tam, Wan Chai

Q Should schools be required to use reusable lunchboxes?

Once we teach young students to use reusable lunchboxes, it will become a habit and they will learn to economise.

This will help relieve Hong Kong's dumping site problem. But children have to be taught well about the reason for doing so and about the consequences of  excessive use of disposable lunchboxes. Along with this, we also have to teach them how other harmful materials may cause us trouble.  There should be a government monitoring body which will also launch campaigns  on a regular basis.

Tanka Chungbang, Tsuen Wan

Primary schools are where children learn good or bad habits that will easily stay with them through their lives. We should train schools to use green supplies if we want the students  to also learn to treat the environment with respect.

Doris Lee, Ma On Shan

Q What do you think of ParknShop's image for its anti-plastic campaign?

I purchased a reusable bag from ParknShop, together with a box of milk and a copy of the SCMP. It was all put into a nice big disposable plastic bag for me. The checkout staff member didn't have a clue what the bag she put through the scanner was.

Obviously ParknShop  frontline staff are still very 'green' when it comes to environmental issues - pun intended.

Would ParknShop  like to comment? I still have the original receipt. Do they want the plastic bag back?

Name and address supplied

On other matters...

The Director of Health and his staff still fail to see that our first priority should be to educate the general public on hygiene, personal cleanliness, healthy living, preventive measures and accepting isolation of the entire community.

All these are required  to prevent oneself from contracting bird flu and  prevent the disease from spreading in our community and to other communities.

We need community education to fight this community disease. Medical treatment should be the last  resort to be offered by the Centre for Health Protection.

It is pathetic that our Health Authority still fails to see that by the time the H5N1 pandemic reaches Hong Kong, the infection will be passing from human to human instead of from bird to human, because the  virus will have mutated and adapted to our environment.

It is disappointing that this government chooses to allocate our financial resources in such a manner. We still don't know when the pandemic will take place, but it is definitely wrong to put the cart  before the horse.

K. N. Wai, Eastern District

I am pleased to read that health professionals in Hong Kong  are taking action  to discourage smoking in young people ('Young smokers find it tougher to quit', June 20). We really need efforts to help young people quit, in addition to programmes to discourage them from taking up the habit in the first place.

A quit-smoking programme for  people aged 12 to 25 years seems to be a good idea. I am encouraged that its organisers are asking the public to phone in  their suggestions.

However, there is one glaring omission in the list of people who are invited to make suggestions:  the young people themselves.  I have no doubt that parents, teachers, social workers and other such people have good suggestions, but I am disappointed at the implication that young people don't have valuable contributions to their own well-being.

From the age of 12, and certainly from the later teenage years, young people can definitely be expected to think independently and have good ideas about what motivates and attracts their peers.

I urge the organisers of the quit-smoking programme to seek the opinions of young people and hence empower them and treat them with dignity and respect. Without their input, the programme is in danger of becoming condescending and hence ineffective.

Please, listen to young people. So often Hong Kong youth are criticised for lacking creativity - I think they will show creativity when they are given a chance to use it in practical situations such as this.

Yip Teem-wing, Stanley

I am an Englishman living in China.  Once a year I really look  forward to watching the Wimbledon lawn tennis championships - well, at least I thought I did until recently, when I turned on the TV  and had to listen to that abominable noise from the players, especially in the women's events.

It should be renamed the Miss Piggy Championships - not even the word tennis should be included. I totally agree with Alan Mills and his comments on cracking down on this practice of grunting at every stroke.

Let's get back to basics and have a real tennis tournament like the good old days of the Ilie Nastase vs Bjorn Borg 1976 match. Both were true entertainers;  the crowd loved it and they were worth every penny. I had debenture seats then and it was really a day's entertainment. Nowadays I wouldn't even waste my time, money and effort by attending.

David Thornton, Shanghai

Your leader 'Time to act against those trying to be too cool' (June 18) prompts the fundamental question: Why are Hong Kong's building standards so low? Despite new property prices being among the highest anywhere, most outer walls are just thin single-skin concrete with high thermal conductivity. In the 1960s our buildings had better insulation values.

It is not surprising that property tycoons have invested in the local power companies. It is about time that the Building Authority set some meaningful insulation rules.

Roger Emmerton, Wan Chai

I am a resident of Lei King Wan. Every morning, I am woken up by the loud  music from the Lei King Wan Recreation Park.  A group of around 20 elderly people usually gather around 7am every  day at the plaza adjacent to the tennis courts in the park to perform their tai chi exercise. They turn on their cassette players and enjoy Chinese folk music while they are working on their slow motion exercise. I have complained several times to the Leisure and Cultural Services Department about the selfish behaviour of these old folks but so far nothing has been done. I imagine that one day I could also be allowed to broadcast my deafening hip-hop music and practise my kung fu dances in the same park.  I would then be treated equally and have fun doing exercise in this wonderful park.

Andy Ip, Sai Wan Ho



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