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Talking about ideals,
I trust that all of us have high
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hopes and ideals. The only difference, is that some of us
are more idealistic than others, and fortunately, there is the
A reality which we cannot overlook.
J
There are many obstacles, large and small, preventing
our legislature from being constituted by directly elected
members in these years, and if we go too far at this time
it may not be for the best interests of our community.
My learned colleagues in this ehamber may also recall that
there have been times when tremendous pressures from different
xiges directions pressurite the government not to introduce direct
election into our political system for the time being.
constraint
3
In view of the constrainfand limitation of our unique
political situation, it does not make much sense to assume
that we can go on indefinitely doing more and more of what
we have been doing, or what we like to do, without any
constraint. Therefore, to be realistic, direct elections in 1991 should not be unacceptable.
Although the White Paper promises us direct elections in
1991, it does not mean that this element will continue
to exist and develop in future. How are we going to
consolidate and legalise the hard won direct election
element in our political system, becomes an urgent task and an intelligent thing to do. It is up to us, my hone colleagues, to make it work effectively.
•37.
Citizen participation in direct election. Today, we have a
population of more than 5.5 million, of which 1.4 million
are registered voters. How many of them turn out to vote fin sat at the recent district board election only 30.3%. It was
for cont 7.1% lower than the one three years ago. A lesson we learnt
from the recent election is that we need more time to
strengthen our civic education programme to encourage people
to be more concerned about Hong Kong's political system
^