Luncheon Speech
by His Excellency the Governor
to The Outstanding Young Persons Association on Tuesday 17 April 1990
Hong Kong: The Tasks Ahead
1. I am grateful for this opportunity to speak to you
today about the tasks that lie ahead in Hong Kong.
Particularly pleased to do so here because you are a group of people who, among the many who have made a contribution to Hong Kong, have your contribution
recognised as outstanding.
2.
In Hong Kong we have come through a difficult period in the past year. We have sometimes felt buffetted by what has been done and said outside the territory just as much as by the problems we have faced
locally. There is no point in dwelling on the past.
Sufficient to say that Hong Kong's resilience has been severely tested. And once again we have shown that we
have got what it takes to pull through.
3. What is more, we now have behind us several of the
issues which have been preoccupying us for a long time. The Basic Law has been promulgated. Arrangements for
major moves forward in our system of representative government, in 1991 and beyond, have been announced.
draft Bill of Rights has been published. And the United
Kingdom has unveiled its nationality package.
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4.
Not all the issues I have listed have come out
exactly as we would have wished. This is inevitable. We must not let disappointment over points of detail get
the better of us. We have for instance had a long period of uncertainty while there has been intense debate on our future political structure and how it should be reflected in the Basic Law. Some may have wanted the
Basic Law provisions on the pace of political change to come out differently. But the important thing is that
we now have an agreed outcome to work on as a basis for
the future. We must build on it, rather than complain
about it. We must make it work.
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