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issue of Certificate of No Criminal Conviction was 23,063; in
ic
1987 it increased dramatically to 53,471. These Certificates are required for immigration processing, what will be the figure in 1988, 1989 and in the early 1990s? I now turn to the controversial subject of direct elections to the Legislative Council in 1988. I think it would be fair to say that the questionnaire drawn up by AGB, McNair on direct elections was convoluted, clumsily framed and not too easily understood; this was most unfortunate to say the least. On the other hand, even
ber cent if the AGB, McNair report had indicated that 50% or more of the population were in favour of direct elections in 1988, the fact remains that China had put it to Britain in no uncertain terms
that it did not want direct elections until after the Basic Law
is passed in 1990, and on the understanding which seems to be now openly agreed upon, that an element of direct elections would be included in the Basic Law. This is a situation of real politic which the people of Hong Kong have to face up to in a realistic way, and without losing hope that the process of democratisation will continue to develop steadily during the transition period. NP20 || As one who has always advocated an element of direct elections,
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NP 28
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N232
NP
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I personally would have preferred direct elections to be introduced
the Legislative Corneil in Lege this year.
LEGGE
At the same time, a sizeable portion of the population have expressed either publicly or not publicly, that
they were not in favour of the introduction of direct elections
in 1988, but rather at a later date, that is, 1991. To what extent China's attitude did influence local public opinion in this respect is difficult to quantify but certainly it did have a marked bearing. It would seem therefore, that having direct elections to the Legislative Council in 1988 is today still highly controversial while deferring it to 1991 would be not so progressive but less
controversial and attract less objection from certain influential
sections of the Community and from China. This White Paper is in frank terms, primarily a holding operation pending the adoption of the Basic Law in 1990. The people of Hong Kong will from now on have to focus their attention on studying the draft Basic Law
which will be promulgated in May for public comment; only if we