與曾蔭權會面 Meeting with Donald Tsang on 16-Mar

IT EC members including full team of IT Voice, plus Charles Mok, Alan Lung, Robin Sarah Bradbeer, Richard Li, Daniel Lai and Stepehn Lau met Donald Tsang on 16-March.

The pro-democracy EC members tabled a paper with two sections (I) Constitutional Development (II) IT Development.

On Consitutional Development, we urged Donald to set out a concrete plan and schedule on politcial development, to put proposals of all sides including pro-democracy camp in the Government's green paper and have a public consultation. Richard Li echoed in his own speech that IT voters demand a faster democracy.

On IT Development we presented our proposals centered around the theme of Information Society. By Information Society, we do not see ICT just as a tool but as our daily life. So we must ensure everyone has access to ICT; their personal life (freedon, privacy, etc.) on the Internet should be safeguarded. The e-Government should be accessible to all citizens in a convenient way. The government should have ICT in mind and take leadership in it. ICT is not only an internal demand but Hong Kong's edge. Hong Kong should not just follow mainland but demonstrate our leadership to contribute our knowledge in the development of the country to get a win-win.

In the IT policy area, we and the other group's indeed resonated each other. Donald promised to meet with us after the election to learn more about our proposals. This is perhaps the major achievement we got.

On democratic development we cannot see Donald giving any concrete plan and schedule. In public occasions, Donald criticizes his competitor having only vision but no implementation details. Could I use Donald's words to attack him on the other hand? Donald said a green paper will be issued in June or July but he did not give details. Seeing the previous work of the Commission of Strategic Development, I am very worry it is a delay or denial of democracy. Will there be criteria to meet in order to be included in the green paper? If a proposal includes amendment of Basic Law as long term target (and not affecting 2012), will it be included in the green paper's report? What kind of major proposals will be listed in consultation? How can the general public be involved in the consultation? These are the details we need. The angels and the devils are in the details.