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an Executive act and not under the Banking Ordinance. I suggest that the implied amendment to the Companies Ordinance contained in the Banking Ordinance would not have been passed by a legislature that had even a smattering of elected members. I entirely support the proposition that a genuine Rule of Law cannot be achieved without the corollary of free elections, not necessarily for every seat, but, in the case of Hong Kong, for every unofficial seat of this Urban Council and for some seats on the Legislative Council. I have no doubt many nominated unofficials here today would achieve election.
His Excellency the Governor has now appointed a Working Party to examine, inter alia, the enlargement of the franchise and in my submission such enlargement should be based on a definition of a Hong Kong citizen. In other words, the position of a Hong Kong citizen should be the overriding requirement for a person to have the franchise. In my view, a Hong Kong citizen is a person who is either born and usually resident here, or who has been a resident of Hong Kong for a reasonable number of years, so that it can be said that he has the interest of Hong Kong at heart. In Hong Kong's peculiar geographical position I would go further and say that to be Hong Kong citizens they should intimate, either by a provision enabling them to make a statutory declaration (or some other way), that they agree to play their part in the defence of Hong Kong, should the need for it ever arise.
The institution of a local citizenship would give true Hong Kong citizens a sense of belonging to Hong Kong, a sense of being a participant in the Government of Hong Kong and an appreciation of enjoying the privileges afforded to them. This will make Hong Kong not merely a cosmopolitan city but a city where all races who are true residents of Hong Kong will enjoy equal privileges and bear equal responsibilities. "Tung Gung, Tung Chau, Sai Yan, Punti Yan, Nam Yan, Nui Yan", but as the official language of this Council is English and instantaneous translation has not yet been instituted, (Laughter) I require to translate: "equal pay for equal work whether expatriate or local whether man or woman" and the expression "equal pay" denotes also in this context the figurative sense of "equal privileges, equal duties". The whole essence of allegiance to a Government is based on the fact that citizens have duties because they have privileges. That is why in the U.K. 150 years ago the cry went up "no taxation without representation", (laughter) but, Hong Kong is in some ways still 150 years behind the times.
Mr. Chairman, Sir, I beg to second.
DR. BELL:- Mr. Chairman: The dictionary says (as Mr. BERNACCHI has told you) that a citizen is an inhabitant of a city or town, especially one entitled to its privileges or franchises. It also says a citizen is a townsman as distinguished from a countryman, a civilian as distinguished from a soldier, policeman, etc., and formerly meant a person engaged in trade as distinguished from the landed nobility or gentry; citizen is a person owing allegiance to a government and entitled to its protection.
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Citizenship means the status of a citizen. We obviously have already very many people in our midst who qualify to be citizens under the dictionary's definition. That is we have many townsmen quite definitely distinct from countrymen, we have many more civilians than soldiers, policemen, etc. and very many people engaged in trade quite distinct from our landed nobility or gentry. We have many people who owe allegiance to our government who are already serving in our auxiliary services, and I am certain we have many more who would be prepared to swear statutory declarations that they owe allegiance to the government and would be willing to serve in the defence of Hong Kong, if called upon to do so. These people would be more than happy to receive the protection of government which with the wholesale utilization of the deportation of aliens ordinance they do not have at present. Incidentally, the dictionary goes on to say that "citizeness" means "female citizen" and we have lots and lots of them!
The extraordinary thing is that we have in fact, as I have just pointed out to you, several million citizens but we don't have citizenship - the status of a citizen.
I would like to draw your attention to part of an answer recently made by the retiring professor of Economics and Political Science of the University of Hong Kong, when giving his opinion as to the future of Hong Kong in a special interview reported by the South China Morning Post. I quote: "A great modernization, not only in the direct activities of trade and industry but extending all through the social and educational systems, and transforming the whole way of thought, must come one day and the sooner the better. I think it will be a condition of maintaining the present livelihood, let alone improving on it and therefore that it is urgent". Surely this lack of citizenship is a large factor in the social and educational systems which requires modernization.
I believe that the creation of a local citizenship would result in a tremendous improvement in the attitude of our citizens to civic responsibilities, and to neighbourliness. They would develop a pride in the city to which they belong by birth or by adoption. People always like to belong, be it to a family or to a church, or to a club or a society or to a home and to the town or city in which they have their home. There is security in belonging and a feeling of wanting to participate and contribute together with all the others who belong. This is human nature.
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