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W(B)L 51-7406
CONFIDENTIAL
Moreover they should be persons who are not
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only able and prepared to speak their mind
even though this may bring them into conflict
with the policies of the Government, but who
are also ready to sustain in public their
opposition to those policies and thus, by
weight of their numbers, to bring continuing
pressure to bear on the Government to ensure
that their opposition is given due weight.
In this manner, the existing "rubber stamp" image of the Councils (and more especially peshops
that of the Legislative Council) could be
changed; and the general public could be
brought to a better realisation of their
opportunity to participate to a greater degree
in the conduct of the Colony's affairs.
8.
present
This is not an approach which can easily
be put across to the Governor. Indeed, the
selection of members possessing the necessary
qualities presupposes an intimate knowledge
of the personal characteristics of those who
might reasonably be regarded as forming a
suitable field of selection for membership.
It is, therefore essentially a matter in
which only the Governor is in a position to
exercise an informed judgement. It may be
that such persons who fulfil the accepted
Kinciples do not exist in Hong Kong. It
may be that Hong Kong's geopolitical situation
and the likelihood that the Colony's existence
as a separate entity under British adminis-
tration is limited to less than another three
decades, has stifled the development of any Hmg King
national spirit amongst its indigenous
inhabitants, and that, as a result, the poorer
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