the conclusion whether direct or indirect election is
preferred.
At present, the most obvious objective factors are:-
(1) Generally the people of Hong Kong lack a thorough
understanding of the concepts of politics and democracy partly because, in tradition, the Chinese people are not fond of talking politics and partly because the present education system in Hong Kong does not take a positive approach in inculcating students with political and democratic ideas;
(2) the people of Hong Kong take a very apathetic attitude
towards election. This accounts for the fact that
there were very few electors voting in the previous Urban Council elections. Though some improvements
were seen in recent district board elections the
response was by no means encouraging. This is a fact that must not be neglected; and
(3)
the fluctuation in the monetary markets in the past year or so shows that the confidence of the people of Hong Kong is rather shaky and is, therefore, unable to
stand any major blow.
The above factors (of course there are other factors too) clearly indicate that direct election of councillors to the Legislative and Executive Councils has its latent difficulties
and problems.
On this account, I believe that indirect election suits the special circumstances of Hong Kong better. It is because on one hand, the district boards which have been set up for quite some time are gradually gaining the support of the people who have by now a better understanding of their functions and are more prepared to turn up in the election of district board members. On the other hand, indirect election
and the functional constituencies permit the elite of our