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I do not know whether I am considered as a member of the
group calling for direct election, but I always believe that
if members of the Legislature are returned through elections,
if direct election in the principle mode the effect should be
better than indirect election. In theory, direct election
can provide a firmer basis for the Government and in
really
practice residents can regularly participate in the
democratic process through direct elections. In the 1970s,
Hong Kong began to introduce a system of representative government. In the early '80s, the spirit of representative
government was still not widely accepted and residents were
not fully familiar with the functioning of representative government. Therefore, there was a need for introducing
indirect elections. Nevertheless, at present, residents
have become more knowledgeable about civic education and
elections. Now that the White Paper has contained a firm
commitment that there will be direct election to the
Legislative Council in 1991, it is a natural step in the development of political system to give the public the right to have direct election to the fentral founcil of Government by that time.
Moreover, if within the Legislative Council there are both directly elected members as well as indirectly elected
within the Legislative Council, members from the District Boards, that is equal to having
two types of members, one through direct election and the other through indirect election from the same geographical
basis. This arrangement has no advantage, but will only
disturb the overall composition of Legislative Council's
membership and will easily lead to confusion. Therefore,
we should not take this decision as a retrogressive measure. On the contrary we should accept it from a positive angle. To replace District Board Electoral College ection by
signifies direct election signi further growth of Hong Kong's
representative government. It is also a first step to introduce direct election to the Legislative Council
forming the foundation for more direct elections in the
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