Saturday, November 27, 2010

ISA HK/China --- HK Tree News (Late for meeting)

国内朋友请使用翻译软件阅读本文 (http://translate.google.com.hk/?hl=en&tab=wT#enzh-CN)。
*** Our weekly Station Mail is for the information of Station Members only, but Station Mail has given up copyright & can be freely circulated. For administrative reasons, comments from outsiders are usually not entertained & may be circulated within our system locally & overseas. Please note Station Mail is sometimes given in Blog at http://isahkchina.blogspot.com , although images are usually not attached due to size. ***

Dear Station Members,

The following news a while ago described how Govt officials & Legco Members in HK were late for a Public Hearing to lead to the invited parties marching off to the Government House for protest. ISA HK/China wishes to learn from this event.

Those who have participated long enough in ISA HK/China activities in HK & China would know that we are never late for meeting. We feel it is a personal discipline, & a respect for the participants. Being so also leads the attendees to feel credibility in your word. Good time-keepers are usually good promise-keepers. They can do work to meet agreement. This is the old British Merchant Code of "My word is my bond" that we do not hear much in our territory today.

There may be many reasons for poor time-keeping. Too much work is one of them, & bad traffic is another. Can none of these be avoided by careful planning? Some say no, & we say we usually can. Packing in too much in too little time or poor delegation of responsibilities can lead to that. Making simple task unnecessarily complicated can be another pitfall. Sometimes, it's to do with leadership. ISA HK/China is well known to be led by a strong & capable leader.

ISA HK/China runs our activities with our Station Members in mind as the first priority. We treasure their presence & we have high respect for any of them. We listen carefully to every view & we always respond good or bad, so that the inquirers feel that they are cared for. The net result is a high level of credibility & genuine support by our Station Members. We therefore grow & grow to become influential.

ISA HK/China has become by now a conscience group to be joined in by good men & women. They are the ones who stay. We uphold traditional values & we maintain course without deviation. By this we shall later enter China, & for this see shall see whether we'll bend.

best regards,

Sammy Au
Station Manager

"If a tree is not designed, installed, maintained & inspected properly, it is likely to become a liability rather than an asset."

"Trees are good for the community. Trees need care like human beings. Arborists are the Tree Care Professionals."

官員議員懶鬥懶 諮詢民意演鬧劇

有句成語叫做握髮吐哺,係講周公勤政愛民,禮賢下士,凡係有人求見,周公就算沖緊涼都會握住頭髮出嚟接見,就算食緊飯都會立即吐出食物出嚟接待, 因為咁,黎民百姓都好樂意發表意見,終於達成西周嘅成康之治。

今時今日,黎民百姓就冇咁好彩喇,咪話冇一位官員會握髮吐哺招呼你,就算你肯提意見,都未必有人肯聽。話說立法會發展事務委員會原定尋日兩點開會,就市區重建策略聽取市民意見,仲邀請咗幾十個團體參加添。點知團體代表準時到達,等嚟等去都唔見開 會,原來呢場公聽會有十四個議員報名,到兩點十五分都只係得七人到場,未夠法定開會人數,甚至連發展局局長林鄭月娥都冇到,搞到一度要宣布流會。

卒之等到三點先至湊夠議員人數開會,但由始至終都冇話畀人知究竟發生咗乜嘢事,搞到團體代表無名火起,覺得唔受尊重,齊齊拉大隊離場抗議,仲遊行到禮賓府表達不滿。委員會主席劉秀成最終要公開道歉。一場聽取民意嘅公聽會,居然變成一場鬧劇,究竟啲高官同議員去咗邊?原來,林鄭月娥去咗禮賓府接受金紫荊星章,唔得閒應酬市民;至於尊貴議員咯 喎,劉秀成就解釋話,可能係部分議員「記錯時間」,先至遲到,你信唔信吖?

有人擔心今次事件可能加重社會戾氣,其實,戾氣又好,怨氣又好,全部都係呢班官員及議員引起。講真吖,開會本來就係立法會議員嘅主要工作,工作就要有工作嘅態度,點可以粒聲唔出遲大到,好似玩泥沙咁。打個譬喻,如果同樣情形喺私人企業發 生,打工仔日日遲大到,或者失驚無神玩失蹤,唔被炒魷就奇。

事實上,為咗出席公聽會,唔少團體代表專登請假,有人甚至由外地趕返香港,結果議員遲 大到,高官拒出席,連最基本嘅尊重都冇,難怪團體代表扯晒火:「唔通佢哋高高在上,基層市民嘅時間就唔係時間?」

講開等人,功夫茶諗起幾個月前,湖北武漢市十名交警接獲通知,喺烈日下大汗疊細汗苦等半粒鐘,任務就係等交通局政委到場視察,然後排隊畀領導為佢 哋抹汗做騷。件事曝光後,武漢交通局政委被輿論封為官場影帝。正所謂,天下烏鴉一般黑,天下官僚一般懶。今次事件證明,港官一樣係影帝,所謂諮詢民意不過係一場戲。

官員扮大牌,鍾意嚟就嚟,唔嚟就唔嚟,市民 就好似茄喱啡,呼之則來,揮之則去,真係豈有此理!官員係咁,議員又係咁,近年立法會流會已成為家常便飯,旨意佢哋為民喉舌,好難咯。

唉,政府漠視民意,立法會扯貓尾,唔怪之得香港管治愈來愈差, 社會愈來愈亂喇!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

ISA HK/China --- HK Tree News (Arborist Credentials)

国内朋友请使用翻译软件阅读本文 (http://translate.google.com.hk/?hl=en&tab=wT#enzh-CN)。
*** Our weekly Station Mail is for the information of Station Members only, but Station Mail has given up copyright & can be freely circulated. For administrative reasons, comments from outsiders are usually not entertained & may be circulated within our system locally & overseas. Please note Station Mail is sometimes given in Blog at http://isahkchina.blogspot.com , although images are usually not attached due to size. ***

Dear Station Members,

ISA HK/China has recently given an interview to Ming Pao, a leading newspaper in HK, on the Arborist Credentials in our territory of HK, Macau, Taiwan & China. Published details are in the attachment.

The Certified Arborist (CA) & Certified Tree Worker (CTW) credentials of ISA were originally designed to recognize the knwoledge & skill of a practicing Tree Care Professional to meet a designated standard. The tests were first given in English-speaking countries like North America & Commonwealth countries where English is a native tongue. In these places, candidates have been mostly honest to obtain the 3 year Tree Work experience, before applying for the exam.

When the CA & CTW exams were brought into our territory with HK as the first place in 2005, the candidates applying then were mostly veterans in the landscape industry, with years of Tree Work experience as known to the Station Manager. As time progressed, ISA HK/China began to notice that candidates not possessing the relevant experience also came to take the exam. Salesmen, environmentalists, construction workers & others all came to take the test. Among the candidates, some can read, but not speak or write, adequate English to communicate on an international level. Yet a lot of them could produce a "company letter" of some kind to 'verify' their working experience. This would not be good for the credibility & respect of the Arborist Credentials.

In our opinion, getting the quantity is one thing, but these credentials are really about quality & standard. We want our profession to obtain public trust & respect. The tests have the element of relevant years of Tree Work in them. They should be honoured. On the other hand, the Arborist Profession constantly touches law. ISA HK/China has therefore a duty to safeguard the credibility of our Arborist Credentials to make it trustworthy & respectable. we must let it develop in a healthy & sustaining manner, so that we do not become a moment of glory like firework.

To meet the challenge, ISA HK/China has put up our own local credentials of Independent Practicing Arborist (IPA, http://isahkchina.blogspot.com/2010/04/isa-hkchina-hk-tree-news-14410-report.html) in Aug 2008, & then the Qualified Arborist (QA, http://isahkchina.blogspot.com/2010/09/isa-hkchina-qualified-arborist-qa.html) in Sep 2010, to re-assert standard & credibility. Both credentials have included a range of professional elements such as working years, international conference, academic qualification, CEU, etc. to make these credentials meeting our social expectation. We shall use the IPA & QA to enter China to clear their doubts.

The major distinction between the QA & IPA rests on Field Work capability & legal knowledge. While the QA remains a "Desk Arborist" at large producing reports, the IPA is all round with climbing, rigging & Expert Witness in Court. International experience has shown that letting office personnel to supervise Field Work would mess things up. Putting the right Arborist for the job would be like "Planting the Right Tree in the Right Place". Otherwise, it will be Mother Nature makes the Rules again.

We now ask our Station Members & public to support the QA & IPA credentials for the good of the Arborist profession & our Tree Planting. They are established out of our practical need. We shall also use them as our tools to enter China & Taiwan later.

best regards,

Sammy Au
Station Manager

"If a tree is not designed, installed, maintained & inspected properly, it is likely to become a liability rather than an asset."

"Trees are good for the community. Trees need care like human beings. Arborists are the Tree Care Professionals."