We may not all be conscious of it, but to my mind one of the most notable developments of the past decade, since Hong Kong's return to China, has been our growth as a community. What has taken place, in my view, is a subtle strengthening of our inter-relationships as fellow citizens.

Through no fault of our own, and least of all of the motherland that welcomed us back with open arms, we have weathered a lot together in the past 10 years; what Shakespeare described as "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune".

We suffered an economic depression whose after-effects lingered for years, followed by SARS and the return of Avian flu.

But, like metal forged in the fire, we have emerged the stronger for it. And whether or not we are aware of the fact, we have gained something of immense value from being put to the test by these trials and tribulations.

We have acquired a greater sense of "togetherness" than we ever displayed before, a more marked desire to defend what we perceive as our "collective good".

It is to this greatly reinforced "togetherness" that I attribute the relatively recent but astonishingly meteoric rise of nostalgia that is now unmistakably present in our community.

Instead of being wholly preoccupied with the present and the future, we are beginning to spare the time to look back over our shoulders at the road we have travelled to get here.

This never happened before. Not so long ago we were all so busy looking to our todays and our tomorrows that we never bothered with our yesterdays. Yet so pronounced is this relatively recent trend that we have even added the term "collective memory" to our lexicon of fashionable phraseology.

Chief Executive Donald Tsang, in his recent "Letter to Hong Kong", remarked on "what has amounted to a sea change in public opinion in recent months". The growing interest in what we call "collective memory", he said, has sparked something of an awakening in our community.

This awakening could not have come at a better time, for it enables Hong Kong to join in what is fast becoming a global momentum to preserve universal memories for the sake of the world's future generations.

In 1992 the United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organisation - or UNESCO - launched the "Memory of the World" programme to guard against collective amnesia. This programme set out to preserve valuable archive holdings and library collections all over the world, and ensure their wide dissemination.

How often have we regretted the passing of a beloved elder whose unique memories of our family origins would be far wider ranging than our own? How often have we wished that, in their lifetime, they had made a greater effort to ensure the continuity of their own valuable treasure trove of the past?

That loss should serve as a reminder that each of us has a responsibility to our own heirs. We too have a duty to pass on the torch of memory, so that future generations will have a clearer record of whence they came.

For make no mistake about it, collective memory is collective history. Each individual's personal store of recollections contributes to the whole fabric of human experience.

Since UNESCO took the initiative, many places around the world, including the United States, Europe, Australia, Canada and China, have started individual historical and cultural projects in digital form. At present, there are more than 40 memory programmes around the world.

To set up a similar memory programme in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Jockey Club and the Leisure & Cultural Services Department have just collaborated to develop a web-based digital repository.

As Secretary for Home Affairs, I started to initiate the project as early as 2002 when I first took up the post.

While the Home Affairs Bureau launched the first phase of the consultation on the heritage conservation policy in early 2004, in the middle of the year, to broaden our work on the protection of intangible cultural heritage, I asked LCSD to work on the "Hong Kong Memory" project.

The department commissioned a feasibility study in January 2005. And in March that year, LCSD applied funding from the Jockey Club to launch the project.

The "Hong Kong Memory" repository will consolidate our documentary heritage and to make it accessible to everyone. This five-year programme is funded by a donation of $80 million from the Jockey Club. Once again, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the Jockey Club for the generous donation for sponsoring its development cost.

The project aims to establish a multimedia website for the collection, preservation, presentation and dissemination of Hong Kong's unique historical and cultural heritage. It will provide free and open access, through the Internet, to digital collections of information and materials that reflect the collective memory of Hong Kong people.

All of this material will then be classified, catalogued and edited to facilitate convenient retrieval on the Internet.

But this project is neither for the Government nor for the experts, but for the 7 million citizens of Hong Kong and their forefathers and friends.

As soon as the platform and the editorial mechanism are ready, a territory-wide campaign will be organised to awaken old memories - to collect old items such as photographs and records, and to conduct oral history recordings to pool life stories.

We want the community to actively participate in the project. This would strengthen the sense of belonging and cohesiveness of our people, as well as enhancing cultural literacy, which will be beneficial for Hong Kong to becoming an international cultural metropolis in the long term.

Remember that this is an ongoing project without a finite timeframe. By the end of the five-year period covered by this programme, the platform will be handed over to LCSD for continual development and maintenance.

But if that makes us feel we have all the time in the world, remember too that memory is a fragile thing. Unless substantiated by photographs, video footage or written records, it is prone to decay, to the point where it evades recollection entirely.

HK memories to be collected

When we look through old photographs of Hong Kong - even the Hong Kong that our grandparents knew - we may find ourselves wondering about the people portrayed in them; people who might have been living simpler but harder lives, without all the conveniences we know today.

Perhaps we end up speculating about what they were thinking or saying, about their own views on life, which might have been very different from those we hold today.

Hong Kong runs a Heritage Trust under (former Governor) Lord Wilson's name. The trust is to provide an opportunity for the community to join hands further to promote the preservation and conservation of Hong Kong's heritage. The "Hong Kong Memory" is exactly a project to achieve this purpose.

Through the "Hong Kong Memory" project, we stand to gain a greater insight into that lost world. We can volunteer our contributions towards that collective memory that will benefit our community as a whole and our future generations to come.

A lot of people say Hong Kong needs a heart. I assure you that these days we can all hear that Hong Kong heart is ticking.

Secretary for Home Affairs Dr Patrick Ho broadcast this "Letter to Hong Kong" on the "Hong Kong Memory Project" on RTHK.