The fact is that most of the tenants who inhabit these old buildings are underprivileged or working class, especially in buildings in urban areas. They cannot live further from the city because of the travelling costs.

If they stay in urban Hong Kong, they have a better chance of finding work. But with their meagre incomes, they cannot afford to pay exorbitant rents and so have no choice but to live in a subdivided flat. It is all about supply and demand.

As we all know, the monthly rent for a whole flat, even an old walk-up in urban Hong Kong, will be at least HK$3,000. For people from the grass roots that will be a great financial burden. For the unemployed, or people on other forms of welfare, the maximum housing subsidy they can get from the Social Welfare Department is HK$2,200.

This falls short of their practical needs. If these subdivided flats did not exist, the underprivileged would have nowhere to live in urban Hong Kong because, in these areas, there is a chronic shortage of public housing. People should not be deprived of their right to live in urban areas just because they are poor.

This public housing shortage in the inner city is one of the problems that has emerged from this tragedy and the government should recognise the importance of dealing with it as soon as possible.

K.W. Peng, Sha Tin

Treat police with respect

I couldn't agree more with Jessica Cheung ('Verbal abuse of police should be an offence', February 12).

Members of the public should not vent their anger on police officers.

There must be a more civilised way to express your emotions, even if you feel you have been treated unfairly. Shouting at police officers is not a solution to a problem.

I witnessed an incident last week in which a woman scolded an officer in front of her son.

Surely adults should be holding up police officers as role models for the younger generation.

We keep emphasising the importance of human rights and equality. So why should a policeman have to put up with insults when he is simply doing his duty? Working for the disciplined services is never an easy job.

All police officers have a duty to ensure the safety of the public and maintain law and order. But who guarantees their safety and dignity? Over the last few years, when there have been protests, demonstrators have hurled abuse at the police who must exercise self-control.

In some cases, officers have been injured.

Every human being is entitled to be treated with dignity.

Even children are taught the importance of respecting others. Let us not forget what we learned during childhood.

Grace Pow, Ho Man Tin

Need to monitor taxi CCTV

Taxi drivers want closed-circuit TV systems installed in their vehicles.

They are concerned about an increase in the number of taxi drivers being attacked and even robbed.

If these incidents were recorded on video, then the drivers believe it could help catch and convict the perpetrators. While I support this measure, we also have to consider privacy issues.

For example, some celebrities might decide they will not get into a taxi because they do not want to be filmed.

While we have to strike a balance, ensuring the safety of the drivers is more important than the privacy of passengers.

However, stringent rules should be established when it comes to the installation of CCTV systems so that the privacy of passengers is respected.

Officials must consider how the tapes would be used before allowing any CCTV systems to be installed.

R. Hau, Kowloon Bay

Tong stamp of approval

The world-famous star of Cantonese Opera, Tong Tik-sang, died in 1959, aged 42.

I hope that fans of Tong [a prolific writer of operas] will ask Hongkong Post to issue a special postage stamp and stamp sheets in his honour.

I think they could become a memorable philatelic item which will be popular worldwide.

K.M. Nasir, Mid-Levels

How to report littering drivers

I refer to the letter of Christina Hellmann-Ipsaryaris complaining of littering by a taxi driver ('Litterers act with impunity', February 12).

Unfortunately it is the ubiquitous practice of drivers of taxis and other commercial vehicles to collect the remains of their meals in plastic bags and to throw them out of the window.

These bags, carefully tied and knotted, can be found at the verges of many traffic junctions, or where drivers stop to take their meals.

Members of the public who witness this can report the incident on Form FEHB 10 which can be downloaded from the website of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department.

I have made reports in the past.

The matter is followed up and the perpetrator is fined. In other words, it works.

The fine of HK$1,500 is a real deterrent and the more members of the public who are willing to report such incidents, the greater the chance they will cease.

Markus Shaw, Central

Writer has changed tune

Elsie Tu ends her latest letter ('By-election a call to overturn 'one country, two systems',' February 18) with the paragraph: 'I hope that readers will consider these views that come from my observations of almost 60 years.'

Well, yes, we have considered Mrs Tu's letters for many years. Until about 20 years ago, we frequently agreed with the points she raised about the need for workers' views to be represented to the then-colonial government and, of course, her campaigns against corruption.

Now, though, Mrs Tu seems to be arguing against more representative government and saying that democracy is utterly unsuitable for Hong Kong and should never be implemented.

Surely a thriving, fully representative functioning democracy is the most effective means of ensuring that everybody's views are heard?

For example, if people in Hong Kong had the right to demand an end to the cartels that control much of this city's economy, I am quite sure we know who they would vote for.

However, it is rather difficult to understand quite what Mrs Tu is saying because her letters are increasingly riddled with random non-sequiturs, for example, that 'as a result of universal suffrage ... workers are paid wages that keep getting lower'.

Angus Hardern, Mong Kok

Repression will not earn respect

Anyone who read the final statement of Liu Xiaobo ('Guilty of 'crime of speaking',' February 9), cannot fail to see that his imprisonment is an absolute travesty of justice. It is a denial of basic human decency as well as of the mainland's constitution.

Along with the jailing of Tan Zuoren, it illustrates the Communist Party's utter contempt for divergent viewpoints as well as its own constitution and thus the rule of law. What else is there to say?

The party needs to do some very deep soul-searching and to rehabilitate itself if it wishes to gain any real respect and legitimacy, domestically and internationally, rather than grudging acceptance based upon fear of repression.

J. Fearon-Jones, Macau

Priority ought to be quality

I understand why some schools that are struggling to survive offer free gifts to get young people to enrol.

I also agree with those who argue that schools should always stress the quality of teaching. An institution that has high-quality teachers will attract pupils.

Because of the falling birth rate in Hong Kong there are fewer admissions and many schools face a problem of not having enough Form One students.

Therefore I think there may be occasions when a school tries to entice students with gifts and gimmicks.

Commercial enterprises do this if they are facing very stiff competition, although they would probably only adopt such a strategy in the short term.

Different schools have different needs but the priority should always be to provide high-quality teaching.

Lau Yuet-ping, Ho Man Tin

Thank you for smoking

I would like to thank the members of the I Smoke Alliance who marched to the Central Government Offices while protesting against higher tobacco taxes ('Smokers light up in protest at tobacco tax rise plan', February 12).

Their cigarette purchases and subsequent consumption during their rally will help the government pay for my next visit to the hospital and help keep my salaries tax low.

William Yip, Sham Shui Po