No more lameduck

 Rising hospital fees, old age pension scheme, deteriorating bus services and the large influx of overseas labour have drawn criticisms from the public. Historically, the government gives the economy a free hand to expand. An efficient self-mechanism of the market is believed to be the reason of success to Hong Kong today. Nevertheless, the gist of the market economy only makes the rich richer, the poor poorer.

The government is expected to play a role here to make the income more evenly distributed. It should supervise the provision of public service and prevent monopoly in the public sector in threatening public interest. It also should strive for a balance between the economic development and the social welfare. However, the government has failed to do so.

Contrarily, the government begins to consider the running cost in providing public services, such as medical care and public housing. It tends to shift the burden to the public. For instance, the government appears reluctant to shoulder the responsibility to provide an old age pension scheme. Also, it turns a blind eye to the soaring transport fees.

The conflict is more obvious in the import of overseas labour. The import of cheap labour intensifies the competition faced by the local labour. It is shown by the more demanding job requirement imposed on the local applicants.

The pie has been made bigger, but the share of the lower class people has not been proportionally enlarged. It is the time for the government to give serious consideration to make a just division now.

Lau Ka Po

Aberdeen

Education of sex offenders

 Correctional Services Department psychological staff have recorded reactions from young victims of sex attacks as part of an experimental treatment for sex offenders. The videos are being kept under lock and key awaiting showing to three sex offenders in Hong Kong prisons. While its intention is to reduce the re-offending risk among sex attackers, the treatment might not have been well thought out.

Everyone knows that victims of sex attacks suffered from cureless pain. It is unbelievable that sex attackers commit sex offences because they do not know how their sexual violence hurt the victims. Indeed, sex offenders usually are psychologically or mentally abnormal. They may not be able to control themselves even though they understand the consequences brought to the victims. The crux of the matter is the complex minds of offenders and thus the effectiveness of the videos is questionable. Even if the videos may have some effects among those feel sorry about their offence, it is difficult to distinguish them from the majority that may feel happy to see others suffering from pain.

While the victims are made fully aware of the purpose of the videos and they have given their full concern, the videos act as a reminder recording the unhappy experiences of the victims permanently, thus hinder their recovery from the humiliating experiences.

As a matter of fact, experienced psychologists know clearly the feelings and consequences of the sex attacks. There is no difference between playing the videos for the offenders and explaining the situation for them by experienced psychologists. Why do we have to take the excrescent and inhumane step to ask the victims how they feel after being attacked?

According to the Hong Kong Monthly Digest of Statistics, there were 1,819 reported cases of sexual offences in the first three quarters of 1994. This shows that sex education is severely inadequate. It is more effective to implant people with correct sex knowledge and attitude than to dissuade offenders not to offend again. Prevention is always better than cure. Sweden is one of the countries that implements sex education successfully.

It is true that the government has long been distinguished by taking actions only after a problem reaches crisis level. It is a high time for the government to alleviate the burning question through a well-planned sex education.

Lee Sze Man

Tin Shui Wai

Voice for females

 A statistics done in September 1994 showed that 80 percent of female job-seekers were rejected only because their ages did not meet the job requirements.

The difficulty for a female to get a job increases with her age, especially, after 30. Most of the recruitment advertisements are targeted at females aged under 30 or even 25. Similar age restriction also happens in some government subsidized organizations.

These cases happen to many mothers. It should be noticed that many women have to quit their job for their pregnancy. When the children are born, they are again enslaved in childrearing. After the growing up of their children, these women are already at their middle age and there is almost no chance for them to find jobs. Therefore, age restriction is in fact a great obstacle to these middle-aged women.

Worse still, in recent years, factories have moved back to China. Many local workers have become unemployed and most of them are women. On the other hand, the increasing number of imported labourers enhances their difficulty to look for a job.

Comparatively, middle-aged men are easier to find or change jobs. It is because the employers emphasize more on their experiences, skills and knowledge instead of their ages. This phenomenon is unfair to the females. Especially for those females with similar experiences and qualifications, they encounter much more difficulties when seeking jobs.

In my opinion, the government should pay more attention to the welfare of female labour and job- seekers. To better this situation, the government is suggested to provide day care centres so as to emancipate women to work. The government cannot ignore this large female labour force since it did essentially contribute to the success of Hong Kong.

Lau Tang

Kowloon Bay

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