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stability painted on sand with a rosy brush of deception and make belie. Indeed is it fair, or indeed proper, for these veiled threats 3 to be uttered inside this Chamber albeit in the name of unity,
consensus and working together for a bright future o as to stifle criticisms of the White Paper Indeed Mrs. Selina Chow put it like this There must come a time when decisions have to be made.
Pretail protect public debate beyond that point of casting doubts on the
A wisdom and integrity of those decisions and the people who make them can only result in a dangerously destabilising effect on this community which is already highly sensitive to confrontation. If that reasoning is sound, why are we having this debate? Perhaps to Sc 12 give Mrs, Chow an opportunity to practise constructive criticism
against those who will choose to be confrontational by not accepting the White Paper as the new bible for our political development.
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During a radio debate on the White Paper, on the morning immediately following its publication, I, put this question to the honourable Stephen Cheung, asked him: Suppose the White, Paper had.
Legalitive Council 19 gone the other way and had said instead that 50% of the LEGCO seats
and I were to would be by direct elections in 1988 allow me to say to you: Come, come, Stephen, denet let us quarrel over this anymore. Let us get together. Let us put our act together and get ready for direct elections in September. What would you say to that? I asked him. 24 His reply was "I do not want to answer a hypothetical question Well that was a truly diplomatic answer, but didnot ask anymore I now borrow a line from Mr. Allen Lee: "It is always easier to destroy
well than to build.* That applies equally te to the confidence in our future. I cannot think of a greater blow to the confidence of our future than this single decision by the Government in the White Paper in not introducing direct elections in Hong Kong this year.
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Many people have indeed looked upon this issue precisely in the way Miss Lydia Dunn has put it as a touchstone of the sincerity of the Government, even a test of its ability to govern, because direct elections have been promised to us in 1984 and 1985, and because the Chief Secretary himself had said in an interview to Asia Week