I understand the issue very well. This has come up many times in the past.
It is mentioned on the post by fkm that a new member holding a fresh Mai Po Permit can cause a lot of troubles in Mai Po because they do not have any experiences on the rules/conduct. This is a big concern to me. AFCD and WWF can use this argument to stop issueing permit to our new members. I really want to ask members whether it is really necessary for new members to demonstrate the knowledge/experience of the rules/conduct before they can get a Mai Po Permit. New members can tell me more on this. When I was a new member, I never have this problem because my first few visits are with HKBWS outing.
Next year, I propose that HKBWS to hold free Mai Po trips to new members. Would members support putting in resources this way to serve/educate new members. We have about 300 new members every year. If all new members take this service, we need to organize 6 to 7 Mai Po outings for them.
HF Cheung
