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SCMP Reporter

Give tennis great a fitting farewell

Ip Koon-hung, Hong Kong's evergreen tennis champion, died some months ago and it is to be regretted that no public memorial service was held in his honour.

I am shocked that Kenneth Tsui Kam-cheung, president of the Hong Kong Tennis Association (HKTA), did not take the initiative to organise such a service which Ip fully deserved.

Mr Tsui, who is a tennis player himself and played for Hong Kong in the Davis Cup, knows of Ip's reputation and accomplishments as Ip represented Hong Kong in many overseas competitions and even Wimbledon.

At Wimbledon he played in both the singles and doubles, partnering Edwin Tsai.

Ip, the D' Artagnan of Hong Kong's original 'Four Musketeers,' played a strong serve and volley game and was truly a champion, being unbeatable in all Hong Kong open championships.

The other three 'musketeers', K. C. Dao, V. T. Wang and Edwin Tsai, have all died.

Ip's only nemesis was Felicissimo Ampon of the Philippines.

Known as 'Mighty Mite' and standing about  5ft 2in tall, Ampon had a devastating baseline game and deadly placements.

He destroyed Ip when they met in a Hong Kong final.

Ampon had come to Hong Kong to work in a Philippine bank and gladly took part in Hong Kong open championships and he was never beaten.

'Ampon was too good for me,' Ip said.

The great Pancho Gonzales called Ampon, pound for pound, the best tennis player ever.

Unfortunately for Ip, in his declining years, he was injured in a road accident that crippled him.

But he was still popular and had a smile for his fans and friends at the Chinese Recreation Club where he daily lunched.

There is still time for the HKTA to organise a memorial service for Ip and if it did, I am sure it would be well attended.

Ernie Pereira, Mid-Levels

Worried about pay demands

I am concerned about pay rise requests which are being made by certain groups of  employees of publicly-funded organisations.

Recently, we have seen  a series of protests staged by public hospital doctors, other medical staff, social workers and teachers, all calling for pay rises. While such requests might be reasonable, many ordinary citizens like me  are afraid that the stability of Hong Kong will be compromised. As a taxpayer, I am gravely concerned about how public funds can be allocated to meet such demands and what impact this will have on our society and on a recovering economy.

While I do not want anyone to lose out, we must ensure public funds are spent wisely and not just to silence protesters. While the Basic Law upholds the right of the public to demonstrate in a lawful manner, the government must stand firm and consider such demands according to the merits of each case.

The government must devise  a mechanism by which it can review such demands.  It should conduct an independent review of existing salary levels of  particular groups of employees of publicly-funded organisations to determine whether and how their salaries should be adjusted.

These demands must be dealt with  in an open, fair and accountable manner.

A. Au, Sau Mau Ping

Let us see pandas for free

I believe anyone who has seen Ying Ying and Le Le on television, will agree with me that they are a pair of young and lovely giant pandas.

When you see these pandas, given by the central  government in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong SAR, you feel the impulse to  rush to Ocean Park and pay them a visit, only to be deterred by the expensive entrance fees.  It costs adults and children (three to 11),   $185 and $93 respectively, to get in. The entrance fees may not mean much to people with a lot of money, but the less well-off  simply cannot afford to spend a few hundred dollars to see the pandas, when they have a family to feed. It should be remembered that the pandas are a gift to all Hong Kong people to enjoy and treasure.

Allan Zeman, chairman of Ocean Park, should follow the good practice of the Hong Kong Museum of History, where admission is free on Wednesdays.

This admissions policy could be adapted so that admission was free on any one day of the week, only for those people who wanted to visit Ocean Park to see the pandas.

This gives Ocean Park an  excellent opportunity  to show that it is socially responsible.

Otherwise, it might be better to put the pandas in the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens where admission is free for all.

R. Luk, Mid-Levels

No superior work ethic

I have absolutely no sympathy for correspondents like Pierce Lam ('Spare a thought for diligent middle class,' July 5) and K. Singh ('Maids get really good deal with wages in HK,' June 27) who moan that they have to spend their free time fending for themselves on their domestic helpers' day off.

Not only do they appear to blame their hapless helpers for the tiny size of their apartments,  but also seem to be taken aback that they have to spend their time off looking after their own offspring.

Clearly, if you are responsible for bringing children into this world, then you should be prepared to guide them through life, including those onerous piles of homework, with love, care and patience.

I am sure, however, that most parents naturally want to spend time with their children at the weekend.

Since plenty of middle class families around the world manage this balancing act quite well without a helper, I doubt Mr Lam's assertion that Hong Kong has a stronger work ethic than others.

I suspect merely that there is a widespread distaste locally for doing dirty or boring tasks that you can pay someone  peanuts to do in your stead.

Debbie Barnes, The Peak

A difficult life

Pierce Lam stoutly defends the 'diligent Hong Kong middle class' (July 5) against allegations of domestic worker slave labour.

In the same breath, however, he draws attention to cases of severe middle class child abuse with parents regularly forcing youngsters to slave till midnight over their homework.

Indeed, it would appear that children of a tender age in Hong Kong now labour longer hours over their schoolbooks than the wretched urchins who toiled relentlessly in the Dickensian sweatshops of old.

Perhaps  Mr Lam should ask the government why housing, employment and educational conditions are so oppressive for diligent middle class journeymen in Hong Kong.

Phil Glenwright, Ma On Shan

Time to grow up

I don't know how other people feel, but I think  that the democrats really over-react to everything.

They strike me as being politically immature.  If they see something they dislike, they organise a protest. If the protest is unsuccessful, they stage  a publicity stunt.

They appear to vote against things just for the sake of it.

Many of your readers might disagree with me, but I think the democrats have to take stock of themselves.

They have to stop complaining and try and be more politically mature.

Jasper Yip, Tai Po



Letters