Thursday 9 July 2009

關於我們的官

今天M傳了簡訊一則於我,說的是文道和林太的事情,於是電郵了我一段文字。
但是沒有出處,也無上下文,本著還原本色的公正公平精神,我花了一個下午,終於給我找到了完整的文章
張貼於前文,順便也附上了註釋的内容。
斷章取義地罵任何人,都是不公道的做法。
當然,即便是受薪於市民的高官,我們罵歸罵,也要有個原委。

M的論調是,「林鄭不了解張愛玲,只凴看過幾齣許導演的戲,就對她作出評判,有失偏頗。
這麽大個官,竟然連張愛玲也沒有讀過,還要公開地這麽說,實在失面子。」
我依稀記得她是理科出身,好像是讀的化學,後來再搜索,原來讀化學那個是羅范。
林太,讀的是社會科學
港大社會科學院,有地理,政治及公共行政,心理學,社會工作及社會行政(social work & social administration) 以及系社會學系。
當然,她讀書的時候可能架構不是像現在這樣,但不知道算不算理科?
不過沒有理由沒有讀過張愛玲的?

我讀到註釋最後一段的時候:

本刊另去信馬家輝,他指致電林鄭月娥問及設立張愛玲紀念館的可能性時,林太的反應是呆了一下,然後表示她知道張是個跟香港有關連,很出名的作家,也看過許鞍華拍張愛玲的電影,並多次強調張愛玲沒有留下實在的空間、住所、故居之類,很難設館,認為張愛玲是否值得紀念,恐怕仍有人有不同意見,但表示如果民政局 支持,她亦不會反對。

有點驚嚇。
驚嚇不是因為她給的答案這麽的官方——肯定沒有通過新聞官才答馬博士的問題,也沒有之前被知會過會被問及關於張愛玲,更加沒有其他的手下幫她擋駕。
而是她雖知道張愛玲,卻是通過許鞍華導演的電影——當然,幸虧她還看過許導演的電影,不然M一定會抓狂——不免有點讓人哭笑不得。
M嚴正地說,「張敏儀一定不會說出這樣的話,她一定讀過許多張愛玲的作品。」
「但她已經從位子上退下來了啊。」
其他在位的官我不知道,但是那些讀番書的也未必知道。
即使不是讀的番書,大學也是主修什麽英國文學之類,讀張愛玲的書應該沒什麽機會吧?
其實,我想說的是,即便是理工科培養出來的學生,也應該有些少文學功底。
雖說官方的所有文稿都有專人包辦,不需要位高權重的官員親自操刀。
但座談會這些東西,沒有事先準備這麽一說吧?
忽然來一條這樣的問題,雖然給你這這樣一個太極擋回去,外人聽到了一定覺得很錯愕吧。

我不是要批判林太,她一周工作70個小時(我估的)。
忙到昏天黑地,沒有空閒做自己的事情也是正常的。
但是為她剪報紙的官員,可以也做些文化版/副刊的頭條briefing給她嗎?
畢竟,坊間傳聞,說她要接CS的位的。
我不想她再放出這樣的言論啊。
頓首。
大謝。

延伸閲讀:
香港中央圖書館展出張愛玲的《小團圓》手稿 介紹她小說創作歷程

時間站在我們這邊——給林鄭月娥的一封公開信

9 comments:

sherry said...

看了這篇,真不知說什麼好。香港有很多有心的文化人,但官員的被動令人費解。我不會怪林鄭沒讀過張愛玲,但她應該有common sense去處理這事,而不是搬官腔出來應付。

c.r said...

Sherry:沒錯,她工作壓力也一定很大——連斬樹這樣的事情也要過問。
有時就是覺得他們太受保護,下面的人擋駕都擋走了不少事情。雖然經濟利益重要,但有時候知識分子出來說話,他們也應該聽一聽。
看過皇后碼頭辯論的youtube片之後,我不抱這種不切實際的幻想了。

g said...

Although land resources is under Lam’s purview, I guess when it comes to establishing a museum dedicated for a particular figure, support from the policy bureau (in this case HAB) is required, for it entails re-distribution of govt land/property and taxpayers’ money (for later daily maintenance, but I hope not, for govt-run premises are super boring ).

That said, the idea of building a memorial venue for Eileen Chang in Repulse Bay is attractive and worth a try.

I would view this thing as a pitfall of Lam appearing “relatively competent” all along. Outsiders know she is willing to “shoulder”, so they seek her help (aka 擺佢上 table) The fact that the bureau oversees too many areas also blurs the line of its responsibility and others.(literary arts/intangible heritage is not a core duty of this bureau, unless there are land resources/town planning implications, though one cannot deny that land/space is he pre-requisite of every thing in this dense city.

Lam doesn’t need subordinates to 擋駕 at all. She herself is very capable to face the media , to tailor her script , to present her ideas in sensible and convincing manner. She is one of the “較為似樣” officials, compared with other officials who speak super-boring/empty official dialogues, though the fact that her bureau is constantly burgeoning is not without controversy.

c.r said...

"the idea of building a memorial venue for Eileen Chang in Repulse Bay is attractive and worth a try." - i second that! :) it'll be cool if this could be even considered & discussed.

i actually haven't the faintest clue what db does. but it does seem that putting planning & lands together with works and other stuff is too ambitious for one bureau. i bet ppl who are serving in that bureau are constantly doing OT (if not swearing when actually OTing.)

it's good to know that mrs Lam does her own scripts etc. at least if she did take the post of CS in the next term. we'll have someone who's actually capable of dealing things w/o letting the taxpayers down. and i'm sure she won't say really random things at the legislature.

g said...

of course, when she attends public function, the lower will prepare speeches/briefing note for her. but she will not follow strictly the prepared script(ie, read word by word, as some officials do) anyway.

the cultural circle is lobbying to set up a venue for local liteary arts in KWCD...i think by the time it is completed, it will be ages away. KWCD is too grand a project , i believe in "small is beautiful". let the market itself build up organically..as the 火炭 "arts village" did. The cliche is that the high land price is killing every industry her.

perhaps what 宋以朗 et al should do is to partner with some commercial companies to run a museum/cafe at Repulse Bay in order to be financially sustainable. They could also exhaust the existing channels first (pay attention to the bureau's official response). Well, i guess as an official who receive a sudden ring in the day, she could not answer more than that. of course, there is always more our govt officials can do to bring a vibrant cultural scene in HK.

c.r said...

i can't believe that some officials read off the notes word by word... i dunno but it must require a couple of times to run through the draft to follow so precisely, at least for me.

i'm not sure what one can do to high urban land prices if the consortia aren't willing to subsidise. but again, unless they can get profit from doing it, it's very unlikely that they'll do so.

i don't know much about how museums run. but guggenheim is a very good example. it's run through a trust/foundation or sth. maybe they can run a museum based on their experience? i really haven't a clue. but there must be a way to run a museum w/o govt fundings.

i'm sure that there're lots of officials who do want to bring out a more cultural side of hk. like how stephen chan(currently @ tvb) were saying on the radio about him wanting to do some work at rthk after hours and carrie yau gave him the nod. he's still very grateful for her about that. i bet there're quite a few ppl who're like mrs yau who's very appreciative and supportive of these cultural things.

g said...

re mr chan's outside work, in so far there is no conflict of interest, and he is using his own time, i think a reasonable boss cannot object to it woh, esp in govt when u object, u hv to provide a reason.

the major property developers here are disappointing. (http://news.mingpao.com/20090711/gnb1.htm)

Especially dislike the remarks "有如「膠袋費」及「食肆禁煙」般的行政手段,「這些手段,有時都幾擾民」。

超! 歪理當真理, 十足某位區議員何民傑搬出千百個硬膠理由反對膠袋稅。

More disappointng is the media which write this article. It is horrible.

g said...

the link for the MP article should be:

http://news.mingpao.com/20090711/gnb1.htm

c.r said...

i guess stephen's point was that he was grateful for mrs yau. :)
(maybe i shall find that clip and listen to it again.)

plastic bag levy... i'm not against it, cos i started using eco-bags a while ago. but for some ppl it could be a problem in the short run. they just don't get it. it's not that the govt wants to tax on using plastic bags, it's for protecting the environment in the longer run. most of the time, most ppl are shortsighted.

i don't smoke, nor do most of my friends, we're not as concerned about those bans. but having lived in a country where smoking is banned pretty much everywhere, i'd love to be dining in a clean environment. passive smoking actually kills more ppl. and it has become a culture (for smokers) to gather around the rubbish bin outside office buildings and smoke during break time. =)

these things do take time to learn.