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Blueprint for youth development. Next|The "Three Policies" only accounted for 3 out of 170 shares. How can we talk about mutual trust without mentioning "Reconciliation"

2023-01-07T00:23:54.967Z


The Home Affairs and Youth Affairs Bureau announced the "Blueprint for Youth Development" ("Blueprint") on December 20 last year. In the first phase, it proposed nearly 170 youth policies in different fields, aiming to "inspire the youth and ignite hope". However, in 2019


The Home Affairs and Youth Affairs Bureau announced the "Blueprint for Youth Development" ("Blueprint") on December 20 last year. In the first phase, it proposed nearly 170 youth policies in different fields, aiming to "inspire the youth and ignite hope".

However, the turmoil against the amendment bill in 2019 not only sounded the alarm for the deep-rooted contradictions in Hong Kong, but also built an insurmountable wall between some young people and the government.

To win the trust of young people, repairing social rifts is undoubtedly a key point of youth policy, and promoting the "three politics" of young people, such as discussing politics, discussing politics, and participating in politics, is the expectation of many people; however, "Hong Kong 01" statistics The measures found that only three of them were related to political discussion and discussion, but did not mention "participating in politics" at all, and avoided talking about "reconciliation".


The anti-revision storm in 2019 not only sounded the alarm of deep-seated contradictions in Hong Kong, but also built an insurmountable wall between some young people and the government.

(Photo by Lu Yiming)

The "Three Policies" accounted for only 3 out of 170

The government often says that young people are the future, hope and pillars of society, and encourages them to discuss, discuss and participate in politics so as to serve the society, contribute to Hong Kong and contribute to the country.

However, as can be seen from the distribution of measures in the "Blueprint"

(see the figure below)

, there are very few "three policies", including expanding the self-recommendation program for youth committee members, encouraging young people to participate in regional construction, and establishing youth exchange platforms.

Specifically, it is mainly to attract young people into the advisory structure: First, the number of advisory committees participating in the "Youth Committee Self-recommendation Program" will be increased to no less than 180, and it is planned to increase the number of directly appointed positions from the current 130 to 360; secondly, establish youth community construction committees in 18 districts, and reorganize regional youth activity committees into regional youth development and civic education committees; finally, encourage policy bureaus to set up informal regular youth exchange platforms.

In fact, the "self-recommendation plan" has long been criticized.

"Hong Kong 01" pointed out many times that some of the advisory committees participating in the "Self-recommendation Program" only deal with the details of public policy, and they are not issues of concern to young people.

For example, the Chinese Medicine Research and Development Committee, the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health, and the Agriculture and Fisheries Advisory Committee among the fifteen committees in the fifth "Self-recommendation Programme" believe that many young people are unfamiliar with the relevant issues and may not be interested in participating in them.

Guo Dongwang, a researcher at the MWYO Youth Office, believes that the government should assess the interests of young people before opening relevant committees for young people to apply.

"Hong Kong 01" counted various measures and found that only 3 of them were related to political discussion and discussion, but they did not mention "participating in politics" and avoided talking about "reconciliation".

(Hong Kong 01)

"Self-recommendation Program" has been criticized

The assessment criteria of the "Self-recommendation Scheme" are also controversial.

Its three evaluation criteria emphasize the applicant's professional knowledge and familiarity with issues, including serving the society sincerely, having a certain understanding of relevant policy areas, and possessing good analytical and communication skills-the criteria seem to be very fair, but they are The "elitism" that excludes grassroots citizens, because the citizens affected by the policy are often not limited to the professional class, but also young people of different classes and different levels of education.

In terms of actual functions, the advisory committees covered by the "self-recommendation plan" are often criticized for having no real power, making it difficult to drive the government to make changes; The time for members to speak and discuss is quite limited. Even if members have objections, officials will just ignore them.

It is foreseeable that if the evaluation criteria of the "Self-recommendation Program" remain unchanged, and the "consulting" nature of the advisory committee is also the same, the newly established Youth Community Construction Committee and the reorganized Regional Youth Development and Civic Education Committee will still be "top-down" Consultation cannot promote youth participation at all, and the youth participating in it will only become "uniform".

Guo Dongwang suggested that the government should promote the participation of young people from "from below to above", and empower young people to actively participate in regional development affairs.

He mentioned the case of MWYO promoting "participatory budgeting" in Choi Fook Village, Kwun Tong - residents are free to make proposals and decide on the use of part of the estate's expenses in the form of one household, one vote.

MWYO has shared its experience with the government and expects the authorities to refer to relevant practices.

Dongwang Guo, a researcher at the MWYO Youth Office, suggested that the government promote a "participatory budget" from "bottom to above" and apply it to youth community construction committees, so that youth can have real power and participate in regional development affairs.

(provided by respondents)

Mutual trust is weak "chicken and duck talk"

The "Blueprint" does not mention "participating in politics" at all, which inevitably arouses the association of the outside world, thinking that the government intends to suppress the space for young people to participate in politics.

Guo Dongwang is also worried about the adjustment plan for next year's district council elections: "In the 2019 district council elections, many young people voted or stood for election. How to encourage young people to participate in politics and make them have a positive performance in the next election is a question that the government needs to think about."

In the eyes of the bureau, the alienation of youth from the government stems from young people's "ignorance" and "incomprehension" of the government.

In a recent interview with "Now News Channel", the Secretary for Home Affairs and Youth Affairs, Mai Meijuan, repeatedly mentioned that young people should "understand" the work of the government. "They don't know what the government is doing? Don't they know the relationship between society and them? ’” she said frankly, and whenever she talks to young people, she asks them, “How do you think we can let you know what the government is doing?”

This has also become a major direction of the "Blueprint". Among the 170 policies recorded in "Appendix 1", the words "communication" and "knowledge" appear 31 times and 25 times respectively, while "communication" Also appeared 3 times.

In this regard, the bureau will also set up a "youth-oriented" mobile application to disseminate diversified information on various youth development projects.

Mai Meijuan added in the above-mentioned interview: "This was suggested by young people. In the past, the government's work on youth was scattered on different webpages. (The app) can help them understand all the government's work on youth in one go."

But in the eyes of some young people, it is not that they "don't know", but "too know".

They believe that the deep-seated contradictions facing Hong Kong, including the disparity between the rich and the poor, the single industry, and the solidification of the upper class, etc., all stem from "political issues", so they shouted "revolution of the times", hoping to truly "be the masters of the country" ; and when the so-called "recovery of Hong Kong" failed, many people became discouraged and left their hometowns.

It can be said that the "knowledge gap" between the government and the youth is to some extent the result of the authorities' lack of sincerity in communicating with the people for a long time, which leads to the weak mutual trust between the two sides.

Some rehabilitated youths, even though they behaved well in prison, were still expelled from the school for committing crimes before they were released from prison.

(profile picture)

Be more proactive in "expressing kindness"

It is undeniable that "Blueprint" has released good intentions.

Although Mai Meijuan said that she did not want to label the youths arrested in anti-amendment incidents, the bureau still launched a series of measures to "assist youths in rehabilitation", including providing Hong Kong metropolitan University credit transfer, course bridging, and course funding; the Correctional Services Department has the "Rational" Project along the way, which provides psychological counseling, community psychological services, career planning and Chinese history education; Employers provide on-the-job training for rehabilitated young people to enhance their employability and help them integrate into society.

However, not all groups are willing to cooperate.

It has been reported by different media that although some rehabilitated youths performed well in prison, they were expelled from the school before they were released from prison, or were required to complete the school version of the "community service order"; some even after completing a university degree, some employers still Full of doubts about their "slightly different" resumes, rest assured.

Guo Dongwang believes that even if there are different NGOs in society to help rehabilitated young people reintegrate into society, such as the "Transformation Project" composed of interdisciplinary professionals-providing free emotional counseling and legal support for arrested youth under the age of 25, but It still needs the government to take the lead, communicate with different universities and enterprises, and give arrested young people with good performance a chance to be rehabilitated.

In fact, it is not that there have been large-scale social movements related to youth in Hong Kong, and it is not that the authorities have no experience in mending relations with youth for reference.

In April 1966, the youth riots caused by the Star Ferry's application for a fare increase was an example.

In 1966, the anti-Star Ferry fare increase movement broke out in the background of closed government and serious social injustice.

(File photo/Getty Images)

"Minor Repairs and Repairs" Difficult Contradiction

Before the riots were over, the then Governor of Hong Kong, David Trench, had ordered the establishment of an independent investigation committee, chaired by the then Chief Justice Michael Joseph Hogan, to summon demonstrators, representatives of the Hong Kong government and the police, On-site police officers, journalists, bus drivers, etc. testified, interviewed and investigated more than 300 convicted persons, and finally wrote the research into the 167-page "Report of the Kowloon Riot Investigation Committee in 1966".

In addition to exploring the plight of citizens and the causes of the riots from the perspectives of politics, economy, education, housing, and community policies, the "Report" also specifically analyzed the active participants in the riots—the youths between the ages of 15 and 25. Special Issues", pointing out that "they (young people) are more adventurous, less responsible, and tend to spend the extra time in exciting, stimulating, or unusual ways. In addition, demonstrations are physically exhausting. This atmosphere of possible danger is more attractive to young men than to women, rather than conformity and possible violence, and it also explains the almost complete absence of women in the crowd after violence.”

"Everyone knows that it is difficult for young people to control their dissatisfaction." The "Report" therefore recommends providing young people with better education and employment opportunities, improving the living environment, increasing youth welfare and recreational facilities, and allowing young people to participate in social affairs to cultivate them. sense of belonging.

However, the "Report" finally emphasized: "We do not believe that political, economic and social obstacles were the direct cause of the riots in 1966." It can be seen that the British Hong Kong government at that time was not fully aware of the economic, social and other factors. Deep-seated contradictions were the root cause of the riots, and it was not until the "June 7th Riots" in the following year that the problem was known.

Fifty-three years later, there was an anti-revision storm in Hong Kong, and a large number of young people took to the streets.

Statistics from the Security Bureau show that as of August 31 last year, a total of 10,279 people were arrested for anti-revision-related acts, and 1,754 people were arrested under the age of 18, with the youngest being only 11 years old.

On July 1 this year, the new chief executive, Lee Ka-chao, came to power and reorganized the "Home Affairs Bureau" into the "Home Affairs and Youth Affairs Bureau". In December of the same year, he launched the "Youth Development Blueprint", which was determined to "inspire and support" with 170 policies. 、 Embrace" young people, "Dedicated to providing them with a favorable environment, allowing them to have hope for the future, to strive for self-improvement, to fully develop their talents in society, and then to contribute to Hong Kong, the country and the world." However, this "blueprint" is neither right The plight of youth lives, and they cannot promote "social reconciliation". Instead, they are filled with a large number of "minor repairs" measures, as if treating "youth" as a "problem"-thinking that they are more emotionally sensitive than middle-aged and elderly people. It is more difficult to control, and they have more time and energy to raise their arms and shout out. Therefore, we must continue to carry out "education", "communication", "knowledge", "internship" and "communication" to channel their dissatisfaction with the government, so as not to relapse trigger social disturbances.

Blueprint for youth development.

上|Emphasis on academic employment and light on starting a business and buying a home. How can young people make full use of their strengths? Blueprint for youth development.

Next|The "Three Policies" only accounted for 3 out of 170 shares. How can we talk about mutual trust without mentioning "Reconciliation"

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2023-01-07

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