Q What is the best way to give rice to the elderly? Please add the following tip to the list you supplied for 'tips on better rice handouts' (September 6). Increase welfare allowances to offset the high cost of Hong Kong living and diffuse the crushing burden many poor families endure. Implementation of this tip will reduce the need to travel long distances for rice collection and save our elderly from strokes, tiredness, painful bowels, transport fares and even death. It will also ease crowd management for future rice handouts. Nalini Daswani, Tsim Sha Tsui Q Is enough being done to prevent a repeat of the Tin Shui Wai tragedy? The inquest into the tragedy in the Coroner's Court indicates a lack of gender sensitivity in the police and other government departments, their handling of domestic violence and the fatal consequences of such neglect. Too often, domestic violence is trivialised as a 'mere family dispute'. Police tend to regard fights and assaults between couples as family matters unless there are serious injuries and/or one of the parties insists on prosecution. Such a practice neglects a gender power imbalance in which it is often hard for the woman to insist on prosecution. Social workers in this case also showed gender insensitivity and bias. The wife's pleas for help were disregarded. A trained person with a gender perspective should know that she was torn in a classic symptom of abused victims - threatened by her husband's violence but at the same time she wanted to maintain the 'wholeness' of her family. The stress on family unity only makes it more difficult for women to leave an abusive relationship. A lack of gender perspective is also revealed at the policy level. For instance, the new population policy requires mainland migrant women to have resided in HK for seven years before they are eligible for CSSA. This deprives them of the resources they need for leaving a violent spouse. The Coroner's Court recommended the concept of 'zero tolerance' in handling domestic violence. If society is to uphold 'zero tolerance', we need to not only review our family policy and services, but we also need appropriate training for frontline workers and a commitment of resources, so that women have the resources to leave an abusive relationship when they choose to do so. We urge the government to take into account women's specific needs and take concrete steps to implement gender mainstreaming in the policy-making process. Choi Wing Sze, The Hong Kong Women's Coalition on Equal Opportunities 'Zero Tolerance' is a very silly proposition - even a dangerous one. It not only risks, but encourages overreactions, misjudgments and the destruction of sound families on the basis that shooting a mouse with an elephant gun is 'protecting' someone. Who? The cats? As for domestic violence, this wonderful principle has, in most cases, resulted in the man being arrested and jailed - even if he had called for help! If we took our latest sad cases here, we might assume Robert Kissel would have been arrested and jailed - if he had still been able and called the police. That would, certainly, have been better for his health, but it would have destroyed his economic, financial and social situation, while Madam Kissel would not have received help and encouragement from many sides. You may think of this as being sarcastic - and it is. But it has a purpose: to make us all think before we promote one-sided radicalisation and sexist prejudice. On the front page of yesterday's City section there were three articles about women in need, one (male) rapist, and one man hanged because of - you guessed it: a domestic row! Do I hear 'Hurray!' from some corners? Is that the purpose of 'zero tolerance'? Is this 'equality' in representation of the genders in the media? Men hardly ever complain because they will only be ridiculed, even when seriously wounded. And police and social workers are presumably still trained under the aspect that 95 per cent of all domestic violence is committed by men - the rest being just slightly overreacted female self-defence. 'Zero tolerance' is worthy of a backward dictatorship, not a democratic society. J. Boost, Sai Kung On other matters... I believe most Mid-Levels residents are as frustrated as me - a Robinson Road resident since 1986 - at seeing HSBC gradually reducing its number of staff members, counters, tellers and, this time, machines. The bank recently closed its branch in the area and requires all residents in Mid-Levels to queue for an ATM in the 7-Eleven in Seymour Road or another one in Caine Road. It is the world's second-largest bank's slogan, 'the world's local bank', and its number of branches which attracted me, and many Hongkongers, to open accounts many years ago. Seeing numerous changes in the structure of the branch in Robinson Road, from customers mainly served by human tellers, to machine tellers and now to just an ATM in a convenience store, I feel disappointed and frustrated. It is unfortunate that HSBC, which used to be Hong Kong-based, leaves its loyal customers alone and turns its head to real money-making corporate, credit card and wealth management businesses. I hate to ask, but where's my local HSBC? Brian Wong, Mid-Levels
