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you're
looking for. 1.
Promotion of Tung's aide angers some legislators 2.
Proactive leadership needed in tough times 3.
Cartoon 4.
We should have pushed mainland authorities to curb
the virus' spread 5.
Airlines should give US fresher air 6.
Schools become 'daycare centres' during closure 7.
Wheeler 8.
British survivor claims the US pilot who killed his
comrade is a 'cowboy' 9.
Van Shung Chong builds on Linux 10.
Dilbert by Scott Adams
1. Promotion of Tung's aide angers some legislators
JIMMY
CHEUNG, SCMP 1 April 2003 A
decision by Hong Kong's chief executive to promote his top aide in charge of liaison
with mainland authorities has sparked a backlash in the legislature. The
opposition Democratic Party yesterday vowed to delete the $120,000-a-month post
when the Budget was put to a vote next Wednesday. The
post of senior special assistant to the chief executive has been vacant for more
than a year since Andrew Lo Cheung-on left in late 2001 to help with Tung Chee-hwa's
re-election. Mr
Lo stirred controversy after he allegedly put pressure on Hong Kong University
to stop Robert Chung Ting-yiu from conducting polls on Mr Tung's popularity in
2000. Democratic
legislator Cheung Man-kwong yesterday said the pro-democracy camp had been questioning
if the post should be retained when scrutinising the government's Budget over
the past weeks. He said he had decided last Friday that he would submit a bill
to scrap the post, but the Chief Executive's Office announced on Saturday that
special assistant Chan Kin-ping would be promoted to fill it from tomorrow. Mr
Chan, whose salary is in the $76,755- to $88,000-per-month range, will earn an
estimated $50,000 more each month. Mr
Cheung said: "This is such a coincidence. Apparently the government is trying
to circumvent our move to scrap the post by announcing the promotion ahead of
the Budget vote." He
challenged the government's claim that the Chief Executive's Office had assumed
a greater role in liaising with the mainland authorities and therefore needed
the post filled. "The
promotion is going against the principle of reducing the headcount in the government
because of the budget deficit," said the Democrat, adding that the liaison
role should be under the Chief Secretary's portfolio. He
vowed to table an amendment to scrap the post if there was still time to do so
under existing Legislative Council rules. In
a low-key announcement on Saturday, the government revealed Mr Chan's promotion
in a three-paragraph despatch. It
said strengthening co-operation with the mainland had been one of the policy areas
of the second term of the special administrative region government and that the
Chief Executive's Office had assumed a "more comprehensive role and heavier
responsibility". It
did not say whether Mr Chan's present post would be scrapped after his promotion.
Emily Lau Wai-hing
of The Frontier also challenged the promotion. "Posts
vacant for such a long period should not be filled. After all, Lo Cheung-on has
not been there for more than a year. No problem arises," she said. She
also challenged the government's explanation for retaining the post. "The
government has said it needs senior ranks to deal with senior Chinese officials.
But this is only a directorate-two rank. The government is contradicting itself,"
she said. But
Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong vice-chairman Ip Kwok-him said
he believed the post was genuinely needed. "The
chief executive does need help in liaison. Should we amend the Budget just because
we want to delete one post? It is a meaningless act," he said.
2. Proactive leadership needed in tough times
SCMP,
1 April 2003 The
Hong Kong government has taken the unprecedented step of quarantining an entire
housing block to try to check the spread of the mysterious virus that has so far
infected more than 1,600 people in 15 countries with atypical pneumonia, killing
59. But the question everyone is asking is: what next? The
authorities should ask the same question immediately. For the public is wondering
if health officials have been too reactive, and slow, rather than proactive in
working to stop the contagion. From trying to play down the contagious nature
of the virus to vacillating on the need to ask people to wear a face mask, and
then waiting until this week to close schools and activate quarantine measures,
they have been late in responding to a deteriorating crisis. Indeed,
when quarantine measures were introduced yesterday morning in Block E of Amoy
Gardens, at least a third of the building's residents had already left, having
seen a rising number of their families and neighbours becoming ill over the past
week. The other 18 blocks of the housing estate remain open, but many residents
are understandably also making plans to leave. All these make a mockery of the
quarantine, which is aimed at isolating infected victims. Admittedly, officials
have been reluctant to cause a panic, as even experts know very little about the
new virus, which is believed to be transmitted by droplets. However, now that
the contagion has clearly developed into a crisis, it is imperative that the authorities
think ahead and adopt pre-emptive measures to contain it. The
need for faster action is urgent, for there is evidence that the virus might have
mutated to become airborne. That seems a feasible explanation for why many residents
at several adjoining units on floors sharing a common air shaft at the quarantined
block had become infected. If the virus has indeed become airborne, how much more
infectious would it be compared with those responsible for spreading other airborne
diseases such as tuberculosis, chicken pox and measles? Would wearing a face mask
be adequate to prevent infection? What other measures should the public take to
help fight the epidemic? These are questions that health officials should be asking
and they should be finding answers, quickly. Already
it has been suggested that Hong Kong should consider battening down all the hatches
by closing the borders. That would be a drastic measure to take with calamitous
implications - for the people of Hong Kong and southern areas of the mainland,
and for the economy. It should not be taken lightly. Yet, if our borders are to
be kept open, it would seem that merely requiring visitors to declare they are
ill as they cross the border is unlikely to be effective in intercepting all infected
travellers. At the very least, more doctors and nurses should be deployed at all
immigration checkpoints to keep a close watch. Emergency measures would also need
to be adopted to mobilise private-sector health practitioners and auxiliary medical
staff to help the staff of public hospitals and the Department of Health to fight
a long battle that will take weeks to win, if we are fortunate. In
view of the large volume of traffic between Hong Kong and the mainland, no measures
adopted by Hong Kong alone would be sufficient to contain the epidemic. So far,
the World Health Organisation has got little out of mainland health officials.We
call on the central government to co-operate fully with the WHO and develop a
co-ordinated action plan involving Guangdong and Hong Kong to tackle what has
become a global problem. We believe the community is willing to come together
to fight the epidemic by accepting drastic measures. What the people need is leadership.
3. Cartoon
SCMP,
1 April 2003 
4. We should have pushed mainland authorities to curb the virus' spread
Letters
to the Editor, SCMP 1 April 2003
It is now known beyond any reasonable doubt that severe acute respiratory syndrome
(Sars) was imported into Hong Kong from the mainland.
Hong
Kong has the dubious distinction of exporting the virus to elsewhere in the world.
There is also
a well-founded belief that bird flu was imported from the mainland. The
government Web site carries the statement by Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa: "During
my visit to Beijing on March 18, I took the opportunity to liaise with the minister
of health, seeking to establish a closer liaison mechanism. I now have [March
27] the agreement of the central government to set up as soon as possible a liaison
mechanism with mainland authorities, including the Guangdong authorities, which
will further strengthen our co-operation in these areas of the state of the disease,
clinical treatment as well as control and cause of the disease." Having
suffered the bird-flu fiasco, why was Mr Tung not more forceful when he was in
Beijing? The
people of Hong Kong would have much preferred that he expressed, in the strongest
possible terms, Hong Kong's regret at the Guangdong authorities' continual failure
to disclose the full facts of disease in their province and again requested, in
the strongest possible terms, that those responsible be immediately replaced by
staff who are capable of performing the duties entrusted to them. Even
10 days after Mr Tung's visit to Beijing, there was still doubt that the Guangdong
authorities were doing all that is necessary and reasonable to assist the World
Health Organisation. Had these officials acted in a responsible manner at the
start there is a reasonable chance that the current outbreak could have been contained
in Guangdong. Is
it not time Mr Tung started to speak up for the people of Hong Kong, who elected
him? Is this
not what Hong Kong needs to recover from our present problems?
R. D. TAYLOR,
Pokfulam
5. Airlines should give US fresher air
Letters
to the Editor, SCMP 1 April 2003 In
light of the increase in atypical pneumonia infections, I would like to ask the
major airline companies what measures they are taking to reduce chances of cross-infection
within the aircraft cabin, beyond barring visibly ill passengers from boarding.
I have heard
that most aircraft do not operate the ventilation systems to allow outside air
to enter the cabin at its maximum capacity - due to the cost of pressurising it
and to reduce ozone levels. This
means that passengers and cabin crew breathe largely recycled air. Studies have
shown that at cruising altitude, recycled air, even if filtered before reintroduction
into the cabin, inevitably contains a higher count of particulates and potentially
infectious agents than outside air. I
am aware that researchers have not proven a definite link between the incidence
of infection being greater due to the recycling of air. As
it has not been conclusively disproved, however, I would be reassured to hear
that the airlines are willing to vent their planes to a greater extent with fresh
air, and that all recycled air is passed through standard airline filters which
are serviced regularly. NAME
AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED
6. Schools become 'daycare centres' during closure
Letters
to the Editor, SCMP 1 April 2003 I
am sure that the vast majority of the public thought that the decision to close
schools for a week until April 6 was a good one. However,
it turns out that schools are not really closed. The definition of "schools
are closed" in this case is "schools are open without any lessons".
So the doors
will be open and children will be going to school, as will the staff. Lessons
will be cancelled, which means schools need to find another week to make up for
lost time. It
seems that closing schools would be an inconvenience to many parents. Therefore,
schools will be used as a daycare centre while parents work and do other more
important duties. What will these parents do if their child catches the virus?
I am not surprised
that Tung Chee-hwa has been slow and indecisive in his actions. Again, it seems
that his priority is to make things appear OK and not tackle problems head on.
If the decision
is to close the schools, then close the doors and do not let students return for
a week. A half-hearted effort will not help students, staff or the community.
NAME AND ADDRESS
SUPPLIED
7. Wheeler
SCMP,
1 April 2003 
8. British survivor claims the US pilot who killed his comrade is a 'cowboy'
"Combat is
what I've been trained for. I can command my vehicle. I can keep it from being
attacked. What I have not been trained to do is look over my shoulder to see whether
an American is shooting at me."
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
in London, SCMP 1 April 2003 A
British soldier who survived a friendly fire incident has launched a scathing
attack on the US pilot responsible for killing his comrade. "He
[the pilot] had absolutely no regard for human life. I believe he was a cowboy
. . . He'd just gone out on a jolly," Lance Corporal Steven Gerrard told
the London Times. Lance
Corporal Gerrard, 33, was speaking from his bed aboard the British hospital ship
Argus in the Gulf. A
British soldier was killed and four others were injured on Friday in a friendly
fire incident in southern Iraq. He
was killed after an American A-10 tankbuster plane targeted two armoured vehicles
near Iraq's second largest city, Basra. "You've
got an A-10 with advanced technology and he can't use a thermal sight to identify
whether a tank is a friend or foe. It's ridiculous," Lance Corporal Gerrard
said. "Combat
is what I've been trained for. I can command my vehicle. I can keep it from being
attacked. What I have not been trained to do is look over my shoulder to see whether
an American is shooting at me." He
added: "I'm curious about what's going to happen to the pilot. He's killed
one of my friends." Lance
Corporal Gerrard also criticised the pilot for shooting when there were civilians
so close to the tanks. "There
was a boy of about 12 years old. He was no more than 20 metres away when the Yank
opened up. There were all these civilians around." Three
of the injured British soldiers, including Lance Corporal Gerrard, were flown
home to Britain late on Sunday after being treated for shrapnel wounds and burns.
A fourth remained
in the hospital ship's intensive care unit, according to the Times. "After
this I am quite pleased to be going home," one of the wounded, Lieutenant
Alex MacEwen, told the paper. "
'Blue-on-blue' has always been one of my biggest fears. It is something that my
friends and family joked about. 'Don't worry about the Iraqis, it's the Americans
you want to watch.' "The
proof is in the pudding, really." The
incident brought to five the number of cases of friendly fire that have claimed
the lives of 19 British soldiers since the US-led war on Iraq began on March 20.
9. Van Shung Chong builds on Linux
CAROLYN
ONG, SCMP 1 April 2003 A
construction materials provider in Hong Kong is the first customer in Asia to
implement the Oracle E-Business Suite on Linux. Hong
Kong-listed Van Shung Chong Holdings hopes to save more than 50 per cent of its
annual IT budget by running its business-critical Oracle applications on Linux.
Sean Wan, chief
information officer of Van Shung Chong Holdings, said the economic climate has
compelled businesses to put more thought into how and where they spend their budgets.
"I have
been working with Unix throughout my career, but two years ago I realised that
Linux had come of age," Mr Wan said. "It provides a stable,
low-cost platform that can fulfil all our needs in terms of scalability, reliability
and security." The
Hong Kong-based company supplies construction and industrial materials in Hong
Kong and the mainland. The
new Oracle E-Business Suite replaced several legacy systems running on PCs and
Unix servers. Van
Shung Chong hopes to streamline its entire supply chain - from materials procurement,
manufacturing, order management, inventory control, delivery and financial settlement
to customer relationship management - using Oracle's solution. Mr
Wan said Linux provides a stable, mature and low-cost platform to support the
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, and also runs on off-the-shelf commodity
hardware, enabling the company to use low-cost servers instead of specialised
Unix machines. He
said the company would save more than 50 per cent of its annual IT budget, as
compared with implementing it on a proprietary Unix-based system. Van
Shung Chong rolled out the Oracle E-Business Suite in several phases. The first,
launched last June, included Oracle Financials and a Bank Facilities Management
module. Other Oracle modules including Discrete Manufacturing, Order Management,
Inventory, Purchasing, Projects, CRM (sales and marketing) and Tutor are due to
be implemented by the end of the year. "The
Oracle technology seemed like good insurance, as our business system would benefit
from being on a single, integrated technology foundation," Mr Wan said.
"Today, two years after making that decision, I feel fully justified."
Oracle's e-Business
applications have not enjoyed strong sales, in the face of competition with Siebel
Systems, SAP and PeopleSoft. Oracle's applications sales plummeted in the second
quarter, ended in November. New license revenue from business applications worldwide
fell 34 per cent in year-on-year to US$108.1 million. The
company, however, has stepped up its support for Linux, including third party
software makers into the Linux fold - a move aimed at attracting sales from medium-sized
companies looking to streamline and cut costs.
10. Dilbert by Scott Adams
SCMP,
1 April 2003 
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