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IN CONFIDENCE
9
PARTICIPATION IN GOVERNMENT
4.3 The absence of democratic institutions in Hong Kong has given rise
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to protests in some quarters that the general public should have a greater say in the way the territory is run. Because of the territory's special position vis-à-vis China, there is no possibility of its ever
becoming independent. The normal policy in dependent territories of
encouraging local democratic procedures, as part of the process of moving towards self-government and ultimate independence, does not therefore apply in Hong Kong.
4.4 The Hong Kong Government are aware of the need, because of these
special circumstances, to devise ways of making the government more
responsive to public opinion. In selecting Unofficial Members of the
Executive and Legislative Councils, the Governor has endeavoured to make
the Councils representative of as broad a cross-section of Hong Kong
society as possible.
4.5
There are also a large number of official and unofficial advisory
committees and community organisations which have been developed as
channels of communication between the government and the public. The
City District Officers in the urban areas, and the District Officers
in the New Territories, fulfil a similar function. In October 1979 the Governor announced the Government's decision to operate a pilot
scheme in Kwun Tong (an eastern suburb of Kowloon) in which a strength-
ened City District Office would be combined with an experiment in closer consultation with public opinion in the area.
4.6 Further measures to encourage community participation in local
government took effect from elections in March 1982, on the lines of
a White Paper published in January 1981. The principal. features
are:
(a) the introduction of an elected element to the District
(b)
(c)
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(d)
(e)
Advisory Boards in the New Territories, with elections based
on adult suffrage;
establishment of similar Boards in the Urban Area, but with
narrower terms of references;
extension of the Kwun Tong pilot scheme to other urban
districts;
adult suffrage for Urban Council elections; and
participation in Urban District Boards by Urban Councillors.
IN CONFIDENCE
/THE LAW