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if the voting percentage had not simply confirmed the historic trend. If, as the proponents of the early introduction of direct elections claim, the people of Hong Kong were now so terribly anxious to have a chance to express their political will through universal suffrage, why did the voters not make use of this ready opportunity to demonstrate this desire. convincingly once and for all especially since the debates on the Green and White Papers and attendant publicity must have helped to raise political consciousness? One can of course
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make facile distinctions between District Board and Legislative Council elections, but this does not alter the reality of a low participation rate in the elections last week, particularly when measured against the total number of eligible voters, in practising democracy through direct elections at grassroot level.
I would like at this point to congratulate all the candidates who were successful in the DB elections. Their enthusiasm and their sense of public service in helping with the administration of this territory, even without the immediate prospects of glory, power, and acclaim, deserve our admiration and support!
Sir, the stark truth is that the political activists in our midst do not have the broad-based support which they cite as justification for their attacks on Government and on the findings of the Survey Office. If the activists wish to be seen as responsible politicians, they must learn to show à better understanding and acceptance of majority sentiment. And while in the Orient the burning of paper may well be a rite of purification or exorcism, the public demonstrations in front of the Government Secretariat and in the New Territories immediately following the publication of the White Paper brought to my mind memories of one of the most evil totalitarian systems the world has ever produced. These scenes strengthened my conviction that Hong Kong still has a long, way. to go on the road of political education, and that precipitous