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[Politicians. Bottom] Interrogation from middle school student volunteers-where is the sense of mission?

2021-03-11T11:17:04.747Z


Everyone should actively participate in public affairs. Before becoming a political talent, one must first become a qualified citizen who cares about others and the society. Listening to the voice of the stakeholders, knowing how to express and being helpful, these qualities seem simple


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Written by: Hao Ziyu

2021-03-11 19:00

Last update date: 2021-03-11 19:00

Everyone should actively participate in public affairs. Before becoming a political talent, one must first become a qualified citizen who cares about others and the society.

Listening to the voices of stakeholders, knowing how to express, and being willing to help others, these qualities seem simple, but they are very rare in today's political arena.

To continue the above:

[Politicians.

Top] Torture from the Children’s Council-Where is the respect?

Learn from participatory budget planning

The first phase of the participatory budget plan of Caifu Village, which was planned by the residents themselves for public funds, has ended before the Lunar New Year. Experts are expected to help refine the submitted proposals in the next month. This Tuesday (March 9) The selected proposals were officially announced.

This project is sponsored by the Caifu Village Mutual Aid Committee and co-organized by the MWYO Youth Office. The use of part of the village's expenses is determined through the method of resident one household one vote.

The first stage of the plan is to collect opinions and proposals, which are divided into two categories: facility proposals and activity proposals.

Volunteer Yilin said that participatory budget planning is really necessary. Perhaps officials and politicians have paid too much attention to skills and only think from their own perspective, forgetting what the citizens need.

(Photo by Huang Baoying)

Volunteers played an important role in the process of propagating and solving problems for the villagers in Baijie Station and the settlement area.

The volunteer team consisted of eight middle school students, of which Tony and Yilin were two.

They said that although they often participated in volunteer services at the Caide Youth Integrated Service Center of the Hong Kong Playground Association in the past, they were mostly "one-off" activities such as visiting the elderly and selling flags.

And this project is a long-term "project", which allows them to learn not only to care about others, but also to care about the community, and express their thoughts and voices. The most important thing is to learn to listen to other people's voices.

Yilin is the only resident of Caifu Village in the small volunteer team.

She said that even after living here for ten years, it is difficult to have the opportunity to communicate with people who are completely unfamiliar with the neighborhood and understand everyone's needs.

But during this event, she found that even though not everyone has a set of specific suggestions, they have different needs. For example, some people think that the community needs more places to stretch muscles, and some people think that some clothes drying racks are needed.

Listening and caring for qualified citizens is the first step

"Participatory budget planning is really necessary. Perhaps officials and politicians have paid too much attention to skills and only think from their own perspectives, forgetting what the citizens need. We can really fall into this area this time and ask different questions. What are the needs of the residents, and there are more opportunities to observe the community and find out what can be improved. Politicians inside and outside the system should have enough affinity and insight to really integrate with the residents." Yilin said.

Politicians must always remember: I am just an ordinary citizen, and what Yilin said is to listen to and understand the needs of the region and Hong Kong from the "empathy" emphasized by the volunteers.

After the middle school student volunteers participated in the "landing area", they discovered that everyone "has something" about the living environment, but no one can listen carefully.

(Photo by Huang Baoying)

Tony also said that when asked about their opinions on the community, most children mentioned the park without hesitation, hoping to add new facilities to the old playground.

But what impressed him was a proposal made by middle school students, hoping that the colors of the flowers and plants in the community would be more diverse, so that the plants would no longer be dull.

It turns out that everyone "seeks something" for the living environment, but no one can listen carefully.

Urban design is to improve the quality of life of residents, so it is natural to listen to the demands of residents.

But officials are accustomed to being top-down, and gradually forget that they should serve the people.

"The improvement of the community should be bottom-up-people must first understand what their needs are, express their own voices, directly reflect their dissatisfaction and opinions, and improve the community in which they live..." Tony said.

Listening and caring are not only requirements for politicians, but also qualities that every citizen should possess.

In other words, let alone the professional training of politicians, if today's politicians forget the virtues such as helpfulness and empathy, they will not even be able to do so by qualified citizens.

Miss You from Caide Youth Comprehensive Service Center said that joining the participatory budget plan this time is a challenge for the volunteer team.

Previously, the young volunteers were mostly helping with tasks and rarely had the opportunity to express their opinions. Now that they speak out, they feel more involved in being a "part of".

(Profile picture / Photo by Luo Junhao)

Tomorrow's politicians must first cultivate their sense of mission

I believe that since politicians choose this path, they are not just treating it as a "job", but treating it as a career, and they all have a heart to serve the people.

But where did you go now?

The civil service systems of Hong Kong and Singapore are both inherited from the British civil service system. Whenever it comes to an efficient, elite, and people-oriented government, the Singaporean government is an example that must be mentioned. Therefore, Hong Kong has always been interested in learning Sin Chew’s political talent training methods .

The essence of Singapore's system is the "revolving door" mechanism, which brings together governing talents, political party talents, and regional talents for all-round learning.

In this mechanism, individuals can have identities in political parties, governments, private enterprises, and professional fields at the same time, and can transform and intersect among them, and feel different perspectives of thinking.

In addition, selected political talents will be trained to reach out to the people after they study in university.

From discussing policy formulation to serving in the district, they will truly feel the problems of Singaporeans and cultivate their sense of mission to serve the people selflessly.

However, Hong Kong is not incapable of training politicians with a sense of mission.

Even the governance team, which is often criticized or ridiculed nowadays, has exhibited a "sense of mission" and a "public servant" spirit.

In 2007, during the demolition of Queen’s Wharf, the then Director of the Development Bureau, Carrie Lam, had an open dialogue with conservationists, and was known as the first high-ranking official to "walk into the masses."

For a long time, she has also paid special attention to the construction of primary medical care, and took this as her main political achievement when she became the chief executive.

But perhaps because of this, "political performance" overrides the welfare of the citizens, and primary medical care only stays at the "face-saving project."

In 2016, the then Chief Secretary for Administration, Carrie Lam, severely criticized Leung Ka-liu, the then medical congressman who dragged the motion of "relaxing the practice of overseas doctors in Hong Kong" to death, and bluntly stated that "the battle must be fought", giving people a righteous and solemn attitude.

But now, in the position of chief executive, he is fearful and timid, and medical hegemony has not been touched yet...

When Carrie Lam was the chief, she was bold in her style.

Now in the position of chief executive, he seems to be timid.

(Profile picture / Photo by Liang Pengwei)

The new "Budget" put the treasurer Chen Maobo to the forefront. Back then, he was also a enthusiastic local politician who boldly advocated structural improvements in poverty alleviation policies and investment in public services.

From 2008 to 2012, Chen Maobo, then a member of the accounting sector in the functional constituency of the Legislative Council, satirized the then Financial Secretary Tsang Chunhua’s thinking of "guarding the government" and repeatedly criticized the government for excessively accumulating fiscal surpluses in the Legislative Council meetings. The use of fiscal reserves is too rigid.

But looking back at his recent actions, it seems that he has not implemented his financial management philosophy back then.

Looking at the various parties, who did not fight for the rights and interests of the citizens in the past based on their own ideas?

Now, how did they first express their attitude before seeing the incident, and being robbed by ideology to the point of being insane?

May I ask the politicians in Hong Kong, will the farther they go, the further away from their original aspirations?

When the most basic civic qualities of respect, listening, and empathy, as well as the most basic qualities of a politician, a sense of mission, all disappear, the governance team will be reduced to "nothing to do", and political parties will also be Become a person who is "willing to fight." Will this be the Hong Kong we want?

The above is excerpted from the 255th issue of "Hong Kong 01" Weekly (March 10, 2021) "The Interrogation from Children What is the sense of mission of Hong Kong politicians?"

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Highlights of the 255 issue of "Hong Kong 01" Weekly News:

[Cover story] Don’t let suspicion ruin "One Country, Two Systems" Hong Kong needs to become another "Hong Kong"

Hong Kong Housing Policy Strange Talk-Home ownership may not be able to live and work in peace

From the cold chain transportation of the new crown vaccine, how can Hong Kong's logistics industry move towards high value-added?

Observation of the Two Sessions: Resetting the GDP Target Shows Confidence Beijing's Economic Roadmap for the Post-Pandemic Era

Ten years of opening up, five years of democracy, don’t let Myanmar lose time again

Interrogation from children What is the sense of mission of Hong Kong politicians?

The crux of the 20-year U.S.-China 5G technology war in the three-stage competition

District Council Volunteer Governance Policy Planning

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2021-03-11

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