DAB Blasts 'old Style' Process For Cash Handouts

The biggest pro-Beijing party, the DAB, is demanding an urgent meeting with the Home Affairs Secretary and the Welfare Secretary after many people trying to get a cash handout complained about the scarcity of application forms.

Many people said they could not get their hands on the forms at government offices, and could not get through to an enquiry hotline. Some also said they were asked to bring their own paper to government offices to print out application forms from the internet.

The DAB has been critical of the way the issue is being handled by the government, saying the party itself made thousands of copies for those trying to apply for the handouts. Some of its photocopying machines broke down due to the high demand, it said.

A lawmaker from the party, Elizabeth Quat, called the application method "old-fashioned", and said the government should come up with an online system.

She rejected the explanation given by Acting Chief Executive Matthew Cheung, who said setting up an online process would have taken 18 months.

Quat told RTHK's Wendy Wong that the use of old fashioned application procedures when Hong Kong is trying to promote itself as a hi-tech hub is "unpardonable".