•
· COHAEG
CONFIDENTIAL
1 YON 1988
hei Res. 207.
Trys Jiron
Private Secretary
FROM:
2
CO Hum
3
HRB 011/2. Hong kong Department
DATE .:
25A204
6 5
19 January 1988
PS/Lord Glenarthur
Mr Gillmore
Mr McLaren
1
34
CALL ON THE SECRETARY OF STATE BY MISS LYDIA DUNN: 19 JANUARY 1988
1.
Miss Lydia Dunn, a member of the Executive Council and the
Senior Member of the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, called on the
Secretary of State this morning. You and I were also present.
2.
Miss Dunn said she had briefed the media on the issues in the
forthcoming debate. They tended to take rather a simplistic view. They supported the idea of the introduction of direct elections in
1988. Although they saw the opposing arguments this was not
editorially so interesting.
But
3.
Miss Dunn said that since indirectly elected members had come
into LegCo its style of work had changed. Intrinsically this was a good development. People in Hong Kong knew more about LegCo and had
a better awareness of their rights and obligations as citizens.
the new style of work had created new difficulties for the Hong Kong
Government. It already faced the difficulty that it had a limited
life up to 1997. And it was now confronted by amateur politicians
with authority but no responsibility. Officials came in for
criticism and could not defend themselves.
4.
Miss Dunn suggested that it would be possible for the
Governor to appoint unofficial ExCo members with seats in LegCo as
spokesmen in LegCo with responsibility for particular areas of
government. They would speak for the government, but would not function as heads of government departments. This was a modest
step, not to be made now but in the 1990s. She did not think that
this limited sort of Ministerial system would necessarily lead to
CONFIDENTIAL
Page 90Page 91