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The controversy surrounding the contents of the White Paper, and of the Green Paper and the Survey Office Report before it, have given birth to the stigmatic labels of "democrats" and "anti-democrats", or "conservatives" and "liberals". These categorisations are inappropriate in the Hong Kong context and tend to largely confuse the issues and misrepresent the views of the protagonists, particularly so outside Hong Kong. The practical attributes of Western democracy undoubtedly exist in Hong Kong although they are not institutionalised in the same form as in the present mother country. And it is simplistic and misleading to argue that a system of universal suffrage by itself would readily ensure "greater" local democracy, better representation, a higher degree of accountability, or greater autonomy after 1997. to postulate, completely disregards the political traditions of Hong Kong to-date, the nature of our society, the constraints placed on the development of new political structures by the non-sovereign status of the territory, and last but not least the need to find the best possible accommodation with China. These superficial generalisations also overlook the present lack of a composite picture for the future form of our government and suggests if I may use this analogy, Sir - we are able to visualise the rest of Michelangelo's David from a fragment consisting only of the statue's vital parts.
So
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that
The current debate should therefore be seen mainly as one between pragmatists and idealists, and we might defuse some of its confrontational character if we abandoned the other labels. Whatever blueprint for Hong Kong's internal political future is eventually decided upon, the machinery had better work in practice if collectively we want to maintain a high degree of autonomy based on social stability and continuous economic success, even if it does not meet all the expectations
Our idealists should also of our more idealistic compatriots.
bear in mind that Hong Kong is largely a community of practical people and not of dreamers; I will in turn admit that I respect