Chief Executive Li Jiachao's first "Policy Address 2022" was released on October 19.
The "18 District Care Teams" arrived as scheduled. The Government will set up pilot projects in Tsuen Wan and Southern Districts in the first quarter of next year, which will be coordinated by District District Officers.
Previously, there have been voices in the establishment calling for reforming the district councils that have been "defunct" due to the resignation of a large number of members or the DQ, such as replacing "direct elections" with "appointment", or having district committees perform the functions of district councils. Now that the government has established a care team, The challenge is to weaken the power of the district council.
How should we understand the relationship between the two?
The "Policy Address" mentioned the establishment of "District Service and Care Teams" (Care Teams). The 18 districts in Hong Kong will be divided into different communities, and local organizations and groups will be recruited to become the "Care Teams" of the communities.
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Mai Meijuan: The District Councils of the Care Team will not overlap
According to the "Policy Address 2022", the goal of the establishment of the care team is to strengthen the level of government regional governance and enhance the capacity of grass-roots social services.
The 18 districts in Hong Kong will be divided into different communities, and local organizations and groups will be recruited to become the "care teams" of the communities to promote caring activities.
Government sources revealed three major tasks: first, regular visits to the elderly, ethnic minorities, and subdivided households; second, distributing supplies in emergencies and cleaning up the community after the disaster; third, cooperating with the government in publicity and education.
The Secretary for Home Affairs and Youth Affairs, Ms Mak Mei-juan, attended a RTHK programme last Wednesday (October 26) to introduce more details about the plans of the 18 District Care Teams.
She said that the government will pilot the district care teams in Tsuen Wan and the Southern District, subdivide the two districts into a number of communities, and invite groups who are interested in contracting to submit proposals for one to two years, and conduct pre-qualification, depending on community service experience and long-term service. The capacity of the community, the ability to find social resources and other factors, and determine who has the right to serve according to the different conditions of each district. The district civil affairs commissioner appoints members, and initially conceives the size of the care team in each district is about 10 people.
As for the total number of caring teams in Hong Kong, their powers and powers, the specific application criteria for groups, the annual budget of each team and other planning details, the bureau has not yet announced.
Regarding the question that the public is most concerned about - whether the functions of the Care Team and the District Council will overlap, Mak Meijuan has repeatedly emphasized that the District Council is a "consultation structure", while the Care Team is a "service structure". There is no affiliation and will not exclude any organization, including political parties, from participating in the Care Team's pre-trial process.
In the early days of the epidemic, there was a "mask shortage" on the market, and the community could only organize "self-help".
The picture shows the distribution of masks by the "Hong Kong Community Anti-epidemic Link".
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The establishment of the Care Team is closely related to the COVID-19 outbreak in Hong Kong.
During the epidemic, there was a "mask shortage" in the society, and the anti-epidemic hotline was busy for a long time. The government's fluctuating epidemic prevention measures and insufficient support to the community caused social dissatisfaction.
People in many areas have mobilized "self-help". For example, the "Hong Kong Community Anti-epidemic Connection" is a collaboration between a number of traditional and non-traditional community organizations and volunteer teams to mobilize manpower to manage and distribute anti-epidemic materials to connect people for help. Hotline to support the community's fight against the epidemic.
However, the SAR government did not intervene and lead the anti-epidemic work, and was unable to allocate resources in a timely manner to deal with the public health crisis. Experts from the mainland who aided Hong Kong described "the Hong Kong community's weak organizational capacity" and missed the best time for compulsory nationwide testing.
In the "Policy Address 2022", Li Jiachao's government announced the establishment of a care team, which can be said to have learned the painful lessons of the new crown epidemic and understood the importance of organizing community groups and improving the level of regional governance.
However, Mak Mei-kwan's remarks cannot dispel the public's doubts about the reduction of powers of the district councils. First, the government intends to rectify the district councils, and secondly, the district councils themselves are of a service nature.
District councils have been on the cusp since the 2019 district council elections.
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Government intends to revamp district councils
Since the district council elections in 2019, the district councils originally dominated by pan-democrats have been at the forefront - first, political issues beyond the functions of the district councils have been discussed from time to time, and they have been accused of "overstepping their powers" and "doing no business"; then the "Hong Kong National Security Law" "There has been a large-scale "resignation wave" and "DQ wave"; now there are voices calling for "cancellation of direct elections" and "resumption of appointments".
After the accident, only 146 of the 479 elected seats were left, and it was accused of "existing in name only"; in addition, five districts failed to re-elect the chairman or vice-chairman, so they could not hold a general meeting, which affected district services.
In view of this, the SAR Government suggested to take back the funding authority of the current District Council for the community engagement plan and the district minor works plan, and hand it over to the Finance Committee.
The establishment of the Care Team is even more questionable, and the district council will continue to be cut down.
Before the "Policy Address" was released, there were rumors that the annual reported expenses of the district councillors of nearly 570,000 yuan would be reduced to operating expenses for the care team.
However, the authorities have not yet denied the claims, nor have they disclosed more details of the Care Team's plans.
As for whether the "appointment system of district councils" that is widely rumored may be cancelled, the "Policy Address 2022" also remains in suspense, only referring to the fact that a review of "local administration" has been requested.
Do District Councils have to be "replaced" or "appointed"?
The social inclination hopes that the government will respect citizens' election habits.
Han Chengke, vice president of the Hong Kong Cultural Association Advancement Think Tank and member of the National Hong Kong and Macao Research Association, once wrote an article entitled "District Council Elections Need Reforms to Dump Sewage, Don't Dump Babies", pointing out four major problems in district councils: First, there is a lack of strong checks and thresholds for candidates. mechanism; second, the single-seat, single-vote system amplifies the leverage effect of votes, resulting in unfair elections; third, the constituency is too small, and district councilors only pay attention to the appeals of voters in individual constituencies, lacking an overall view; fourth, the single-seat, single-vote system is easy to form a pan-democratic establishment Opposite.
In this regard, he suggested that the bureau should improve the district council election system from three aspects: candidate review, mixed election system and ballot system: that is, to set up a special candidate review mechanism to ensure that candidates "patriots rule Hong Kong"; to implement direct elections The mixed system of , indirect election and even appointment allows people from different sectors to have the opportunity to enter the parliament; direct elections are expanded to implement the "two-seat single-vote system".
He believes that these reforms will ensure that district councils can focus on "district matters" and restore their functions in the community governance system.
In the "Policy Address", the Government also left suspense about the future of the District Councils and their composition.
(Photo by Li Zetong)
Consultants are also service-oriented
Mak Meijuan's remarks that the District Councils are "consulting bodies" is indeed true.
The functions of district councils are regulated by Article 97 of the Basic Law: "The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region may establish non-regime regional organizations to receive consultations from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government on regional management and other matters, or to be responsible for providing culture, recreation, environmental sanitation, etc. Service.” The term “non-regime” mainly means an organization “without political power” (legislative, executive, and judicial).
Last year, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress passed the amendment to Annexes 1 and 2 of the Basic Law, revising the electoral system in Hong Kong, and clearly defined the District Council as a "non-governmental organization", which no longer has representative seats in the Election Committee and the Legislative Council, and asked the District Council to reply The simple "consulting framework" is responsible for advising the government on matters concerning local people's livelihood and welfare, the provision of public facilities services, the adequacy of plans formulated by districts and the sequence of their implementation, and the use of public funds for local public works and community activities.
At first glance, the district councils seem to have only a "consultative" nature. However, those familiar with the actual situation of district councils will naturally understand that "consultative regional organizations" are not sufficient to explain the work of district councilors.
The reason why district councillors are called "district bosses" is precisely because their actual work is inseparable from "serving the community".
Check the "Guidelines on Remunerations, Allowances and Reimbursement Arrangements for Members of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region District Council", item 23 of which states that District Councillors use operating expenses and reimbursement allowances, or to pay the operating expenses of the District Council offices, It can be used to hold events aimed at providing community service, thereby increasing community cohesion and promoting social harmony, or strengthening the connection and communication of residents in the area.
District Councillors are called "District Guys" precisely because they focus on local affairs and at the same time provide community service.
(File photo / Photo by Huang Yongjun
These community services can be classified into four aspects: supporting residents, handling residents' cases, identifying community problems, and public consultation.
For example, during the severe epidemic period, distributing supplies, listening to citizens' requests for help, and teaching citizens how to use safe travel; it can also be based on the needs of local residents to request the authorities to increase community facilities, to report local issues and public opinions to the bureau, and to discuss bus routes with the Transport Department, etc. Wait.
From this point of view, the community service provided by the district councillor is no different from the work of the caring team—carrying out caring actions in peacetime, and providing support services in times of disaster.
Furthermore, community service and politics are inextricably linked, because all major political parties, political groups and politicians need to win the support of the public through district administration before they can join the Legislative Council.
It can be said that the care team will inevitably overlap with the work of the district councillors, and will also face many problems in actual operation:
If the district councillors successfully join the care team, the problem is not really that big, and it will be able to solve the shortage of manpower and resources for the district councillors when dealing with disasters, and will naturally be able to support the citizens of the district more systematically.
Once they fail to join the care team, how do they coordinate with the care team?
If they can only participate as volunteers, does that mean that they have to unilaterally follow the overall arrangement of the district district affairs officer and the plan drawn up by the care team, and cannot adjust the direction of support according to the needs of the residents?
Is this equivalent to a "subordination"?
If the failed district councillor candidates in the district lead the care team, is it necessary to prevent them from using government resources to win support from the district, so as not to arouse conflicts and conflicts between district councilors and the care team?
In order to avoid this "conflict of interest", does the government need to require district councillors to join the care team?
All of these need to be seriously considered by Director Mak Meijuan, who has 26 years of experience as a district councillor.
Care Team ‧ Part 1 | Existing District Council He Sheng Care Team - Removal of Power?
Complementary?
Dominate the power of the community?
