who are calm
and down to earth. Some people can influence
students, but those in the industrial and commercial sectors cannot. If members of the Legislative Council hold different views, the radicals will form the majority. Under such circumstances, a radical government may appear in Hong Kong in 2003. The government will make biased and inappropriate decisions in regard to economic issues, since it lacks the active participation of people in the economic sector. Of course, any government which does not listen to the views of the people and cannot carry out its administration effectively will be dumped by the voters in the next election. However, the cost for developing that 'negative teaching material' will be great. Hong Kong will have to bear the trauma left by that government and voters have to pay dear 'school fees' too. The problem in fact lies in the timetable for political development being too rigid. hen difficulties and problems arise, there will be no turning back as it will be in breach of the Basic Law. The development of political structure can only be pressed forward.
Hence, there should be a review of the political structure conducted at a certain stage to decide whether all the seats should be directly elected in 2003. If the progress of political development is smooth, then all the seats can be directly elected. However, if the political situation becomes unstable, the economic situation poor and social contradiction intensified in the six years before 2003, the process should be deferred.
The healthy development of a democratic government will depend on the performance of the political figures at the time and whether there is a balanced development of the political maturity of different strata representing different interests.
Role Played by Functional Constituencies Should not be Denied
Given the restrictions of their trades and education level of the workers, traders, hawkers and the general public, we cannot expect a group of political representatives who are close to the masses and have high managerial standard to emerge in the near future. In comparison, the middle class professionals are in an advantageous position: 1. They need not work so hard for a living and they have sufficient financial means to support their frequent political activities. 2. They have higher education