1
not cannot, with respect, be dealing with the same subject matter as this motion.
Sir, subsequently, an open letter
R
jointly signed by eight Legislative Councillors was published in the South China Morning Post and in the Hong Kong Economic Journal, in Chinese, on the 11th March 1988, urging the Government to reply to these criticisms against the two McNair surveys or desist from relying on public opinion as a reason for not introducing direct elections this year.
:
Mr, John Chan, Deputy Chief Secretary, promptly replied to that letter in the same newspapers on the 14th of March but, unfortunately, he failed to deal with this basic point. We therefore replied further by another open letter, published in the
same two newspapers yesterday, pointing out that
as the Government has failed to answer these criticisms,
the only course open to it is to withdraw its reliance
on the so-called public opinion as a reason for not introducing direct elections this year.
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Sir, we know that the views held
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1 in the one direction, A are that the two McNair
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surveys on this issue should
be
ignored, as being invalid. These views are recently confirmed by a Mr. Norman Webb, who is the Secretary-General of the world-renowned Gallup International, who did an appraisal of the data contained in the Survey Office Report, albeit in his personal capacity, And Mr. Webb's conclusions are that : If a referendum
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ist
nad been held, during this period, of the adult citizens of Hong Kong on the single issue of direct elections
in 1988, the result would have been at least two