SHAPING UP FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
Politics
More has been written about the political future than the future of any other aspect of Hong Kong life. In December 1984, the Prime Ministers of Britain and China signed a Joint Declaration on the future of Hong Kong so that, at least, is clear. Or is it? The problem facing the negotiators from 1982 to 1984 was to set down in a small pamphlet a whole way of life, to do it in such a form as to encapsulate what we in Hong Kong think is our way of life and what the negotiators in Beijing thought would be acceptable when Hong Kong becomes a Special Administrative Region of China.
It was an impossible task. The object was to preserve the system while recognising the change in sovereignty. Of course there were gaps and areas of vagueness. Some of these have been filled out in subsequent discussions. Many remain, but much work has been done and a Basic Law for the constitution was promulgated in Beijing on April 4, 1990.
It was also announced on March 21, 1990, in Hong Kong that in the autumn of 1991 there will, for the first time, be elections on a universal franchise for eighteen members of the Legislative Council.
Exactly what will happen between 1991 and 1997 in the constitutional field is still imprecise but within limits the way ahead is fairly clear.
What will happen in the field of politics is much less clear as manoeuvring starts in anticipation of the forthcoming elections. In addition to the eighteen Legislative Council Members to be elected by the population at large, twenty-one members will be elected by smaller-electorates defined by calling - doctors, lawyers, merchants and the rest. Seventeen members will be appointed by the Governor when the elections are over. A Deputy President will be appointed by the Governor to preside over some of the council's meetings.
The executive, that is the Governor and his Executive Council and the Civil Service, will remain unchanged in structure though the Governor will still have to appoint his advisers, while retirements and postings will bring new faces to new places in the Civil Service. Only the three ex-officio civil service members of the Legislative Council will remain on the council in 1991.
There is obvious scope for conflict. Will the Legislative Council vote the money and pass the laws that the executive asks it to? Will it be able to exercise influence, even without authority, on the actions of the executive?
The nature of political leadership will start to change in 1991. In the past authority descended from above, from the sovereign's appointment of a governor through his appointment of councillors and advisers on countless committees. Appointments were of people who had made their mark, who had demonstrated leadership and ability in one field or another. Now there is an inevitable movement of authority to those who command support from below rather than appointment from above. This movement will be given impetus with the new Legislative Council.
While squabbling and posturing in high places makes exciting reading in the papers it has generally been regarded with distaste by the public at large. It seems unlikely that there will be such an insensitivity to this distaste that necessary business will be frustrated. A rather negative comfort maybe but not a very low bottom line.
We may expect some more colourful language and some irreverence but perhaps too we shall see the emergence of leaders who earn respect as much for their wisdom as for their eloquence. Whoever can command the support of as mixed a company as the 1991
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