Developments at the regional level
19. Following the 1981 White Paper on District Administration, the Urban Coun franchise was extended to bring it in line with that of the District Board. In order to strengthen the relationship between the Council and the local community, territory-wide elections to the Urban Council were replaced by elections from 15 regional constituencies, and each elected member of the Urban Council was made an ex-officio member of an urban District Board.
20. In 1984, the Government announced that a second municipal council was to be established to perform functions in the New Territories similar to those of the Urban Council in Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. A Provisional Regional Council was set up in April 1985. The Regional Council, with full statutory authority, came into existence one year later.
21. When the Regional Council was formally established in April 1986, systems of representation in the New Territories were already well developed through the Rural Committees, the Heung Yee Kuk and the District Boards. The composition, structure and working arrangements of the Council were therefore devised to take full account of the need to develop close links with these various bodies. Thus, in addition to appointed and directly elected members, the Regional Council includes members indirectly elected by the New Territories District Boards, and the Chairman and two Vice-Chairmen of the Heung Yee Kuk are ex-officio members.
Developments at the central government level
22. The progressive development of a more representative Legislature, noted in paragraph 15 above, continued in the early 1980s. At the beginning of 1984, the membership of the Legislative Council (excluding the President) was 47, of whom 29 Members, or 62 per cent, were not government officials. Nevertheless, in the light of developments at the district and regional levels, there were increasing calls from the public for further development of the system of representative government at the central level.
23. In considering how this might best be achieved, the 1984 Green Paper took, as its guiding principle, the importance of building on the systems of consultation which were already in place. Two main approaches were identified: one based on representation with reference to where people live (e.g. Area Committees, District Boards, the Heung Yee Kuk etc.) and one based on representation with reference to their occupation or professional expertise (e.g. lawyers, doctors, educationalists, industrialists etc.).
24. Following public consultation, the 1984 White Paper concluded that changes should be made to the composition and balance of membership of the Legislative Council. It recommended that the number of Official Members should be reduced and that the system of appointing Members to the Legislative Council, from a wide range of geographical and occupational affiliations,
9