MR CHAN KIN-POR (in Cantonese): Thank you, Deputy President. First of all, I have to thank Ms Carmen KAN for proposing this meaningful motion which I support.
E-Government services, put simply, mean promoting the extensive use of digital technologies by the Government to improve the efficiency of governance, thereby achieving the objective of providing convenience for the people and society. Nowadays, in many places with advanced e-Government services, citizens can complete most government transactions online, including marriage registration, application for different licenses, change of personal information, etc., thus obviating the need to queue up for the services and greatly streamlining government work. Meanwhile, it is also necessary to achieve data interchange among different government departments. During the fight against the epidemic, we found that the information kept by the departments involved could not be exchanged through the Internet. As a result, it was necessary to spend plenty of time communicating with different departments or requesting information, thus causing delays in the anti-epidemic work, which was extremely undesirable.
In recent years, Hong Kong has endeavoured to develop into a smart city by, among others, implementing plans to build a smart government, but the actual development of Hong Kong is, in fact, far from satisfactory and lags behind the Mainland, Singapore and Tokyo. Macao also enacted legislation two years ago to fully promote e-Government services. As a matter of fact, the successful development of e-Government services requires not only effective digital systems but also the readiness of the general public to use these services, and this will require full trust of the public. It is because the Government, in processing the data of the public through the Internet, may pass on such data for use by different departments, and this may arouse concerns about privacy among some members of the public.
Before the “black-clad violence” took place, young people had been persistently misled by wrong information and fake news, and they became deeply distrustful of the Government and often refused to use government digital services. The “LeaveHomeSafe” app is a case in point. In the initial stage of its launch, rumors had it that a tracking function was hidden in it and many people, therefore, refused to use it. But time proves everything and now, we all know it to be false information. Moreover, the key initiative for promoting e-Government services, namely the “iAM Smart” platform, already has 1.6 million registered users since its launch and users’ feedback has been positive in terms of convenience and speed. Yet, the success of “iAM Smart” will require participation from the majority members of the community, and the current number of registered users is far from adequate.
In fact, the Government has done a lot of work in recent years to rebuild public confidence in the Government, and I believe the Government can definitely restore public trust. But as young people have consistently received wrong information, it will take time to rebuild their confidence. However, the development of a smart city and e-Government services in Hong Kong cannot wait. A key point of Ms Carmen KAN’s motion today is to promote e-Government services through legislation, in order to strike a balance between personal privacy and public interest, and strive to remove the existing obstacles. Ms KAN further pointed out similar cases or examples both in our country and overseas to prove that it is in line with international standards to enact legislation to promote e-Government services.
Now the Chief Executive has set the targets of turning all government services online in two years, and providing one-stop digital services by fully adopting “iAM Smart” within three years. Moreover, the Government is developing the Consented Data Exchange Gateway to enable members of the public to opt for authorizing the exchange of their personal data among relevant government departments by means of data interchange. However, the Government must first obtain the consent of the public on their own initiative beforehand, and such being the case, I am afraid that the development of Hong Kong in this respect may be slowed down. What is more, many people think that when they give their information to a certain department, other departments in the Government will naturally have access to it. So why do they still need to go through so many formalities separately?
I believe the citizens’ data kept by the Government may not all be the most sensitive information involving personal privacy, and overseas practices show that legislation can be enacted to allow data sharing among government departments as long as so doing is in the public interest, or in the interest of the parties concerned, or where needs warrant or in case of emergency. Having said that, the really sensitive types of information, including that relating to tax, criminal records, medical history, etc., may need to be handled separately. This is a more reasonable practice but further discussion in the community is still required.
Thank you, Deputy President