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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL - 14 July 1988
introduction of 10 directly elected seats in 1991 is to prevent any sudden change. On the issue of the political system in the future our community has not yet come to a concensus. The alternatives listed in the Basic Law also reflect this situation. Apparently our community still needs more time to come to a concensus in our political system. Nevertheless, judging from the various alternatives in the draft Basic Law, the people seem to confirm that elections may differ not only in forms, but also in degrees. The major difference lies between preference for direct elections and preference for indirect elections as well the initial pace of conducting such elections.
Hong Kong has practised the appointment system for more than 140 years. This system has really enabled Hong Kong to become a renowned successful cosmopolitan city. People recognise that most of those who receive appointments have made contributions to the community, or have outstanding achievements through their professions. Our future political participants should be re- presentatives of various walks of life. The system of functional constituencies will achieve this result and these representatives are elected through one man, one vote in their respective constituencies. The representativeness of these functional groups is beyond doubt. The experience of the past three years has also proven that the system of functional constituencies is most suitable to Hong Kong's special situation. Therefore, I agree that in the future the legislature should consist of a greater proportion of Members elected from the functional constituencies. In order to gradually promote democratic reforms and to make up for the district elements which the functional groups lack, direct elections at the district level are necessary.
But the implementation of every policy must be in line with the situation and needs of society as Hong Kong's stability and prosperity must be maintained, so we must be even more cautious. So, I tend to agree to alternatives 1 and 3 of Annex II. Personally, I prefer the idea of the electoral college, even though the electoral college must be broadly inclusive of representatives from various sectors, the allocation and distribution of seats among various groups and sectors must be carefully considered to prevent an over-inflated structure which will hinder the efficient functioning of the whole system, and to ensure that individual groups will not be too unwielding and thus attain predominance over other sectors, or even control the whole electoral college. Moreover, methods of election for representatives of the functional groups should be left to the individual groups to decide, for such methods should not go against the democratic spirit today.
Although I have only mentioned alternatives I and 3, undoubtedly, each of the 4 alternatives has its own merits and supporters. I hope that residents should not insist on their own opinions and should put Hong Kong's overall interests in the first place, so that we can come to a concensus on the alternative which has the strengths of all other alternatives and is acceptable to most residents. This should be Hong Kong people's objective.
1.