Policy Address | Security: New Civil Protection Bureau is focus of lawmakers questions

Wong Sio Chak (center)

In the first of two days dedicated to discussing matters under the Secretariat for Security related to the Policy Address for 2018, the attention of lawmakers centered mostly on the decision from the government to create a new bureau for civil protection matters, which will replace the current ad hoc operations of the Civil Protection Operational Centre (COPC).

Yesterday’s plenary session of the Legislative Assembly (AL) saw doubts raised by several lawmakers over the competencies, location, staff and even the need for the creation of such a bureau, named the Civil Protection and Contingency Coordination Bureau (DSPCCC).

Almost all of the lawmakers that requested to question the Secretary Wong Sio Chak had concerns on the topic.

Launching the topic was lawmaker Agnes Lam who queried Wong on the “real differences between this new model [of Civil Protection] and the current one under the COPC.” She asked, “What kind of equipment should it have? What were the flaws detected [during the evaluation] that led to the decision to create this new bureau and how will it merge with the current services?”

The doubts were reinforced by lawmaker Kou Hoi In, who wanted to know the capacity and competencies of such an entity and in what way will it be able to intervene and to mobilize other services.

Lawmaker Ella Lei went a little further and questioned even the concept and structure of the DSPCCC claiming that the creation goes against the policy of rationalization of staff and simplification of procedures implemented by the government regarding public entities.

The lawmaker urged Wong to present the real benefits and expected results from the entity, noting that according to the plan revealed by the government, it will require a total of eight buildings and venues.

Replying to the many questions on the DSPCCC, Wong noted that the new bureau will have two main areas of work: “Alarm, and Response and Rescue,” noting the security forces that currently take care of all the works regarding emergencies.

Wong justified the decision on the back of chief executive orders after the passage of Typhoon Hato, which called for a “revision of the old procedures and the creation of new procedures,” adding, “all opinions are still welcomed on this matter.”

Lawmaker Ella Lei (right) questioned the need for a Civil Protection Bureau

According to the security chief, “After hearing the opinions of the specialist entities from China we have created several measures, the creation of the DSPCCC is one of them,” adding, “We must acknowledge that the system in place in China has obtained very good results,” justifying the decision from Macau as a replication.

Wong explained that the DSPCCC is “presided over by the security forces but also integrates civilian organizations and entities.”

The idea is to centralize the coordination of the operations because, as Wong mentioned, “At the moment each one [of the entities related to Civil Protection] are taking care of their own backyards and there is no integration.”

Wong also took the opportunity to point the finger at society.

“Typhoon day become synonymous with a day to play mahjong, to skip school and to take strolls around the city… All this came to add pressure to the civil protection authorities,” he said, adding, “The underpass of Sai Van Bridge should be only for emergency vehicles but there are many people there. We must review our mindset.”

“The work of civil protection is not exclusive to the government; society has its own share. We have the need to reform [the whole] system – no doubt about that – but the main point is the lack of coordination and that is why it is necessary to create the DSPCCC.”

Justifying the need for a permanent system, Wong said, “last year alone, the Unitary Police Services (SPU) activated the COPC on a total of eleven occasions, mainly to face situations regarding crowd control and others.”

But according to the secretary, “it is not only about storms. Acts of terrorism prevention and response, health-related incidents, like for example the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. If something like that occurs again, it will be also under the responsibility of this department.”

Wong also reaffirmed that the director of the DSPCCC will be responding directly to him. He said that “these are high level duties that integrate the work of several police departments and that includes the authority to arrest people.”

Replying once more to the lawmakers, the secretary also reaffirmed that the “creation of the DPCCC comes in result of the evaluation that we did with the group of experts from China.” Nevertheless, the creation of such Bureau was presented to the public already on September 6 during a press conference from the “Commission for Reviewing and Monitoring the Improvements of the Response Mechanism to Major Disasters,” chaired by the chief executive.

Public car parks to close after signal 8 hoisting

Replying to the questions of lawmakers on other measures that the government is plannig to implement in order to minimize possible damage during severe typhoons, Wong Sio Chak stated that “public car parks will be closed after signal 8.” He said that the measures aim to avoid people getting trapped inside such venues as occurred during Hato.

Several lawmakers also questioned the secretary and his team during yesterday’s plenary session regarding the new mechanism for border control that will apply for the first time a “one-stop border control system.”

On the matter, Wong explained that “for this new model that we will put in place first for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, we are already talking with the mainland authorities to coordinate the application of the new model. This will transform the process [of immigration check- point], eliminating the double procedure while exiting Macau and while entering the mainland.”

Wong also noted that there will be three systems: an automatic system, a manual system and a double-tender where the authorities of both sides are making the system accept all kinds of documents.

“We have been preparing our human resources for this over the last couple of years,” said Wong, adding that for now the office responsible for such tasks is the office of the chief executive but, “in the near future, we will have a department only responsible for such duty.”

Questioned by lawmaker Pang Chuan on the case of the car-hailing service Uber and whether the government has found a solution to “[legalize] the operations of such companies,” Wong refused to comment, saying only that he will transmit the message to the relevant department. RM