14
organisation takes the statutory nomination and election
processes seriously, I am confident that good candidates
with genuine substantial connexions will be elected.
The generality of the membership of each organisation,
encouraged by their General Committees, certainly have
an obligation to ensure that this is the outcome. In
view of its bridging role between the Government and the
manufacturing sector, which I spelled out earlier by
reference to its statutory objectives, the Federation
has a particular obligation to take the election process
seriously, thereby demonstrating that
comprehended the importance of this new aspect of its
bridging role.
it
has
23.
I would,
however,
like to make two points
here. The first is that the functional constituency
concept is purely a mechanism for identifying candidates
for election to the Legislative Council who are
competent to represent the interests of a particular
constituency by virtue of their personal experience and
involvement in the functional area concerned. The
second is that the ultimate purpose of representing the
interests of a particular constituency is, of course, to
serve the interests of the community as a whole. The
underlying philosophy of the functional
concept is, therefore,
representatives
constituency
to
enable
the elected
of the various constituencies to
participate in the task of governing the community as a
whole rather than to protect their own interests.