KEY IDEAS : 1. Director of Broadcasting agreed to withdraw funding request for RTHK's new Broadcasting House. 2. He was accused of betraying RTHK's interests. 3. He made a U-turn, saying the funding request will be resubmitted.
THE director of broadcasting has made an about-turn, saying he will ask the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau (商務及經濟發展局) to resubmit the funding request for RTHK's (香港電台) new Broadcasting House.
Roy Tang Yun-kwong's (鄧忍光) U-turn came in a meeting he had with an RTHK staff union on Thursday. Tang said staff would like the bureau to resubmit the proposal, rejected earlier by the Public Works Subcommittee (工務小組).
"Our colleagues believe that even if the proposal will be rejected again, it should be submitted to Legco (立法會) for further discussion, to reflect RTHK staff's efforts and to leave historicalrecords," he said.
Tang said there is no room to further reduce the project's budget.
Union chairwoman Bao Choy Yuk-ling (蔡玉玲) said staff were disappointed that Tang did not oppose the bureau's decision to withdraw the request for HK$5.3 billion funding, which wastrimmed from its original proposal for HK$6.1 billion, and which lawmakers rejected.
She said Tang told the staff that he did not oppose the decision as there was nothing much he could do.
Public Works Subcommittee member Christopher Chung Shu-kun (鍾樹根), of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (民主建港協進聯盟), said he still has to decide whether to vote for the modified proposal. "I will see if they have made anymodifications," he said.
Chung earlier said the HK$5.3 billion project was still too expensive.
Federation of Trade Unions (香港工會聯合會) lawmaker Wong Kwok-hing (王國興) said, "We have discussed it many times. It is meaningless to resubmit the same proposal." Veteran commentator Johnny Lau Yui-siu (劉銳紹) said it is possible Tang's U-turn will briefly deflectthe political pressure within the station. "After all, it is [commerce secretary] Gregory So Kam-leung (蘇錦樑) who will decide whether to resubmit the proposal."
A bureau spokesman said the proposal was withdrawn as it would be rejected. On Wednesday, Tang denied accusations he betrayed RTHK's interest in agreeing to withdraw the request.
Choy said had the director been someone promoted "from within" RTHK he would have been more ready to speak for the station than Tang, who was previously an administrative officer.
(The Standard, Kelly Ip, 7 February, 2014)
|
沒有留言:
張貼留言