07-OCT-1992 17:28
1992-10-07
22; 13
4.1.3
Leung Wai-cung of HKU supported Mr Patten's new housing initiative for The "sandwiched class" but said that details had to be studied. She believed that the plan would not significantly affect HK's property market and would have a positive effact on the housing situation.
Jeremiah Wong of CV said the beginning and the final part of the Policy Address carried Mr Pattan's style, with a lot of confidence. It gave a feeling of a strong and powerful leadership under an executive-led system. He said the Governor had made concessions to China on not increasing the number of directly-elected seats in Legco and on not appoint- ing UDHK members to Exco, but he noted that Mr Patten would need to explain and discuss with the Chinese side during his Peking visit later this month political changes on the separation of Exco and Legco, and the removal of appointment systems in municipal councils and district boards. On housing, Mr Wong said the proposals for sandwiched class families met the needs of the middle-income group and were expected to contribute to social stability. However, the Governor might be a little too optimistic in his estimation of the number of new flats coming on stream in the next few years.
Owen Wong of HKU felt that the Chinesiside would oppose only proposals on directly-elected seats in Legco and on appointing liberals to Exco. He would not expect strong reaction from the Chinese side because the proposals were in line with the Basic Law.
Mak Hoi-wah of City Polytechnic said that the proposals to improve welfare sounded good but were not substantial.
RKU's Cheng Kai-ming welcomed the increase in education spending, describing as generous the proposals.
CU professor Lau Siu-kai said that election arrangements were aimed at introducing more democracy and that larger franchises would be like direct elections in disguise,
Nelson Chow of HKV welcomed the proposals on welfare and social services, saying that the general public would benefit from it.
Thomas Chan of the HK Polytechnic said that Mr Patten's Exco appointmant
tradition in that no representatives of big had deviated from consortia were on the Council. He said that even if China was not happy, with the Policy Address, the content of the speech had not breachad the
Basic Law.
Political commentator Hung Ching-tin said that he was in favour of the new Exco_membership list, noting that China would feel happy that UDHK's Martin Lee had not been appointed.
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P.004/006