I would like to respond to a letter, “Call for transparency on national development”, published in the Opinion page on March 15.
Like Patriotic Local, I have been following the 19th Legislative Council (LegCo) session. So far, I have been rather impressed by a lot of the concerns highlighted as well as the corresponding responses from the authorities.
However, I feel like both Patriotic Local and I are in the minority; most people are not even aware that the authorities and grassroots leaders gather each year to talk through issues that concern the populace as well as the nation.
Perhaps one of the main problems is that these sessions are taped and aired later, leading to fewer people feeling engaged in the process. In fact, some even believe these sessions are scripted; which they are not, of course.
I believe it is the lack of real-time broadcast that leads to the perception that transparency and openness are sorely lacking, thus reducing public confidence in the whole institution.
One can argue that Hansard is there for all to read, but these days, we will be hard-pressed to find a regular Joe who actually enjoys going through a wall of text to find out what national issues have been brought up and ironed out.
Then there are the taped sessions. While it is true that the public can still catch a glimpse of the whole process – from the facial expression to the tone of voice – it is the knowledge that we are watching as it develops that makes it more engaging and exciting.
We are at the crossroads here; digitalisation is fast taking over every aspect of our lives.
Long gone are the days when we waited eagerly for the newspaper to arrive at our doorsteps to find out what happened the day before.
The youth of today are the “right now” generation; news from all over the world can be consumed through social media. If we want to prepare the next generation of leaders for nation-building and development, perhaps we need to start figuring out how to engage them in today’s context.
Right Now-er
