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will be drawn from sources that have traditionally been the backbone of society or been relied upon by Government for advice, which are broadly based and have ongoing organisational interests beyond that of merely producing candidates for the Legislative Council, and offer the platform for leadership for these candidates and a guarantee of the qualities required to be retained in this Council to give the full spectrum of interests, experience and vigour. This approach is also unlikely to create conflicts with the Basic Law drafting effort since it only refines and does not change the existing structure. It would also produce no real problems with the timing of reforms. Such a system might give a practical answer to the question as to the term of office for legislative Counsellors since as part-time legislators they will likely prefer a shorter rather than a longer service period. As to the/ system, I would favour /voting the preferential elimination system for both electoral college and functional constituency elections. I have no strong views
as to voting age but believe that it should reflect the age of adulthood stipulated in other legislation. The age of eligibility to be elected should however remain at 21 years.
As regards the presidency of the Legislative Council, the option to be chosen should be seen in the context of the whole political structure. Given the premise of an executive-led government existing after 1997, there should be no change. We are a city territory and the Chief Executive should be able to determine the agenda of business as well as keep his direct link with the Council. I would be particularly against the appointment of a person from outside this Council to act for the Governor as President, as suggested in Option (ii) of Clause 125 of the Green Paper.
Sir, I have less strong views on the options set out in the Green Paper for the District Boards and Municipal Councils although I accept they are also important. The Basic Law drafters have already decided that the three-tier strucutre should be maintained, so there seems little merit in analysing possible alternatives for change. I would however not favour