More than 70 per cent of the respondents polled in a youth survey feel that the moral standards of young people in Hong Kong have been declining. Nearly one-third of the young respondents agree that "in today's society, honesty and integrity will only bring poverty." About one-fifth of the respondents said they would give bribes if a problem could immediately be solved, though another 17 per cent of them could not give an affirmative answer.

The survey, however, also found that over 80 per cent of the respondents agreed many worries were to do with money, and more than 70 per cent disagreed that money could buy happiness. This shows that young people are aware of the negative side of the money.

Commissioned by the Independent Commission Against Corruption, and entitled "Young People's Outlook on Life", the survey consisted of telephone interviews conducted by the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups between 11 to 14 and 17 March and a total of 551 respondents aged 15 to 29 were successfully interviewed.

According to the survey, young people ranked "family" the most important among six items of life aspirations, "health" was the second, followed by "friends", "peace of mind", "wealth" and "social status" . When asked in which area of life they hoped they would have achieved most at the age of 35, over two-third of the respondents chose "career". Only less than one-tenth respondents selected a happy marriage.

Despite the majority of the respondents believed that their own efforts would determine their ability to success, nearly 40 per cent of them disagreed that as long as one was able to put up with hardships, one would succeed in the end.

The survey, designed to gauge value orientation of youngsters, asked a series of questions on attitudes towards law-abiding, honesty, social responsibilities and corruption. According to the survey, the vast majority of the respondents acknowledge the importance of obeying the law. However nearly 20 per cent agreed that "as long as it is not immoral, one can use any means, legal or illegal to make money." The findings indicate that youngsters, particularly young males may not stand firmly in law-abiding when applying this concept on money earning.

On questions about honesty and integrity, more than 80 per cent of the respondents would return money to the salesperson if they were given back excessive change. Around 10 per cent said it depended on the situations. The remaining 7 per cent would keep quiet and take the money.

In addition, nearly 70 per cent of the youngsters agree that in order to avoid being squeezed out, one cannot help drifting with the current. The findings showed that the young may shaken one's own personal principle under certain circumstances.

Regarding social responsibilities, more than 40 per cent of the respondents believed that young people could fulfill their social responsibilities by "doing their duty." About 25 per cent chose the option "obeying the law", while about 21 per cent selected "having a concern for society." Almost one-fifth of them answered the questions by choosing "don't know / hard to say."

Despite about 56 per cent of the respondents disagree with the philosophy "everyone for himself and the devil take the hindmost," another one-third take the opposite view. While most of young people put self-interest first, as shown in this survey, they are having a concern for the others. Nearly 80 per cent of the respondents disagree that "in today's society, people should not be concerned about things which having nothing to do with them,"

Regarding attitudes towards corruption, the majority of those who agreed to offer a bribe believed that giving bribery was a quick solution. In contrast, those who disagreed to offer a bribe believed that it was immoral and wrong and thay were afraid of breaking the law and being jailed.

When asked to weigh the level of tolerance among corruption in the business sector and civil service, more than 55 per cent of the respondents were more tolerant the corruption in the business sector than in government, which was consistent with the study done by ICAC in 1996. It is worthy to note that the younger the respondents, the higher tendency they can tolerate the corruption in business sector, particularly in the age group of 15 to 19.

About 60 per cent of the respondents said that they would report bribery if they knew someone took graft, almost a quarter said it depended and about 13 per cent would not do so because they thought it was "none of their business" or "fear of trouble." Among those who decided to report corruption, near 70 per cent were willing to disclose their personal particulars like names, telephone number or address to the ICAC for further contact and investigations.

Senior Research Officer of the Federation, Jacky Pang Kin-fu worried about the trend of increasing tolerant of corruption by the young. He pointed out that similar survey by the Federation in 1993 revealed that about one-tenth of the young people in Hong Kong would solve the problem by giving bribes . The figure has been doubled, as found in this survey, would be very alarming.

"Despite findings of the survey revealed that young people acknowledged the importance of law-abiding, their awareness towards law and order should be strengthened,?/FONT> he added. He also appealed to the SAR Government to prioritize their effort in fostering positive social values for the youngsters and to uphold the government's commitment in combating corruption so that young people can have a better understand on the evil of corruption and social justice be maintained.