}
HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL -1 March 1990
香港立法局—————————— 一九九0年三月一日
24
DR. LEONG: Sir, in 1984, this Council, perhaps rightly so in the absence of other choices, commended the Joint Declaration to the people of Hong Kong. Since then the people of Hong Kong have taken heed of the leadership and determination of this Council. Most recently Hong Kong people's trust of OMELCO, of which this Council plays a part, is demonstrated by the wide support given to the OMELCO formula of political development of Hong Kong in the run-up to and beyond 1997. The formula, Sir, was given a favourite pet
the OMELCO consensus.
name
The final draft of the Basic Law has come out to be a farcical flop. Admittedly, no matter how much heart-searching and heart-breaking debate this Council could put in, it will not change the stonely concrete heart of China, nor the slippery shoulder of the British. Yet this Council owes the people of Hong Kong a proper explanation of the sequence of events leading to what it is today. This Council owes it to the people of Hong Kong for our determined stand on the OMELCO consensus and no stone shall be left unturned on our further drive to attain the pace of democracy that is so dear to our heart.
Sir, the clandestine deals between the Chinese and the British Governments have finally sealed off our right to a government truly representing the Hong Kong people.
The formulae "Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong" and "high degree of autonomy" promised in the Joint Declaration will simply not work under the present arrangements contained in this jerry-built draft. The pedestals of the future system have been undermined, if not swept off en masse.
We were most indignant to hear Beijing's mandarins unscrupulously allege that the views of Hong Kong people had been duly covered in the drafting of the Basic Law. Equally repulsive to us, Sir, was British Foreign Secretary Douglas HURD's statement to Parliament that he regarded "the outcome as one which, though not ideal, we could reasonably commend to the House and to the people of Hong Kong as a basis for the future.
We are totally let down by the fact that our voice for a faster pace of democratization has been completely and totally subdued.
The Beijing authorities have placed sovereignty on top of everything else when coming up with the draft and it is most regrettable to see the British Government caving in to the pressure from the North.
So, Sir, our fate has been decided. It is a historical masterpiece as declared by DENG Xiaoping. What is left to be done by China is for the National
{