1992-01-02 12:26 INFORMATION SERVICES DEPT
852 521 7725 P.05/13
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A lecturer at CUHK's Government and Public Administration Department, Wong Kul-hung, did not think that the announcement at such an early stage would turn Sir David into a "lame duck" or affect HK's administration. He believed that the Conservative Party would pick a politician with British interests in mind to succeed Sir David. Should the Labour Party win the general election, it would also choose a candidate acceptable to China to assume governorship, he said.
Lau Siu-kai, also from CUIK, felt that regardless of which part won the general election next year, a highly respectable political heavyweight would be appointed as HK Governor to enhance the British Government's position in their last years in HK.
A senior lecturer at the City Polytechnic, Cheung Ping-leung, felt that Sir David's performance had been "average". He added that there would be a period of time before London appointed the next Governor and that it was unavoidable that the administration would be affected in the meantime. Another City Polytechnic lecturer, Yeung Law Koon-chui, thought that it was appropriate to change governor within these two years. She did not think it owuld affect HK's stability.
Officials at the HK Bank would not comment on the development saying that it would have little impact and was no surprise. However there was a feeling that the formal announcement virtually guaranteed that Sir David would not permit radical changes in policy of any kind in months before his departure. Marshal Barrows, officer in charge of tax services at Ernst and Young, said that Sir David's retirement would especially apply to the next Budget.
The Association for Democracy and People's livelihood in a statement said that in view of the fact that the Governor had failed to improve people's livelihood during the last five years, a change of governor might be more in line with the interests of HK people.
The Liberal democratic Federation felt that the new governor must fully protect HK's interests within the ambit of the Joint Declaration andTM the Basic Law.
Meeting Point said that one should not attach too much importance to talk on the next governor's qualities. It said that apart from foreign relations, the issue at stake for the Governor was to strengthen the management of HK's internal affairs in the transition.
Political commentator Margaret Ng observed that it was not an easy task to govern HK and that the performance of Sir David had been "outstanding". Another political commentator Peter Harris said that the choice of the next governor would vary greatly depended on the results of the next general election in Britain. Prof Harris' views, together with Legco member Selina Chow and Huang Chen-ya, were voiced at a panel discussion on R-3 this morning.
Sing Tao Daily carried a full-page colour feature on Sir David. The paper noted that according to a fortune-teller, it would be good if he could behere to stay in the coming year.