238
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
the aims of and methods used by different departments may differ, the activities and the end-users of the services are by and large the same. Such competition and duplication of efforts is indeed a waste of resources and administrative expenditure. With its experience of a hundred years serving the public, it would be desirable for the Council to co-ordinate the efforts of these departments and bring them under its fold.
The Urban Council should not rest on its past laurels. It should look ahead and make even bigger strides forward. Let us make concerted efforts to introduce reforms to meet future changes and demands, and to continue to provide the people of Hong Kong with better services.
MR. PAO PING-WING (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I would like to discuss here today the issue of political reforms both within and outside the Urban Council from the viewpoints of democratic participation and the future of Hong Kong. With regard to the future of Hong Kong, freedom, democracy and prosperity for the enjoyment of the people lie not only on the form of administration after 1997, but most important of all, on the people's participation and their understanding of how to protect and fight for their rights and not just the prosperity enjoyed by certain sector of the community. To ensure implementation of democratic participation and to prepare the people for changes after 1997, reforms in the present system should start right away. The administration should be more open as time goes so that the people will have greater understanding and participation, and more government information made public to enable effective supervision. In this connection, I wish to propose the following for immediate consideration:
(a) Reform of the District Boards
With the introduction of district administration under the colonial rule, public opinion is encouraged, but more efforts are required to promote the system as the foundation of democratic participation. The District Boards should therefore adopt the following reforms:
(i) All official members who now enjoy voting rights should become non-voting members in the near future, ideally after the third election of the District Boards in 1985, just like U.S.D. officials attending Urban Council meetings as observers.
(ii) In the long run, the number of appointed unofficials should be reduced gradually, until all members are elected.
(iii) Constituency committees chaired by elected District Board members and directly under the District Boards should be formed to replace the existing Area Committees, so that the District Boards can reflect popular wishes and exercise supervision more effectively and directly.
(iv) The District Boards should be allowed a say in district administrative matters other than urban services, and assigned a greater advisory role in regard to central policies.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 136 of 194
239
(b) Reform of the Legislative Council
(i) More elected members of both the Urban Council and the District Boards should be appointed to the Legislative Council in the near future, ideally in 1985.
(ii) After 1985 and not later than 1988, in other words during the 4th election of the District Boards, when District Board chairmen elected from among District Board members have familiarized themselves with running the District Boards, four-one for each region of H.K. Island, Kowloon, New Kowloon, and the New Territories and outlying districts-should be elected from among themselves for appointment to the Legislative Council.
(iii) From a long-term point of view, the number of appointed unofficial members should be reduced gradually until two-thirds of the seats are filled by elected members. The official members should also gradually become observers only, and they should not be given the right to vote.
(c) Reform of the Executive Council
(i) In the near future, more Legislative Council members who have also been members of either the Urban Council or the District Boards should be appointed to the Executive Council.
(ii) From a long-term point of view, an electoral system should be adopted by stages, until over half of the seats are filled by elected members.
(d) Reform of the Urban Council
At present, the limited jurisdiction of the Urban Council is confined to the urban areas only. And, its functions in respect of recreation, sports, and cultural activities etc. seem to be overlapping with those of some other government departments, and in some other aspects, for instance, noise control, the division of work is not very clearly defined. As a result, the application of resources and provision of services may leave something to be desired. The situation may, of course, be improved by either the Council shifting part of its functions to other departments, or bringing all these functions under its jurisdiction. From the point of democratic participation, I would counsel expansion of the Council's functions as this would not only open up more government departments for public supervision and participation through elected members, but could also provide further chances for the people to experience democratic participation in administration. I therefore suggest the following reforms:
(i) From a long-term point of view, the Urban Council's jurisdiction should be extended to cover also the New Territories, so that the N.T. residents could also exercise supervision and participate in the formulation of urban services policies. In so doing, we should pay
Page 239
...
Page 136 of 194
has been removed as it is redundant with the page number information already captured at the top and bottom of the text block. Corrected and formatted the text according to the given rules, ensuring that the original word count and order are preserved, and the text is transformed into standard Markdown format. As the instruction requires output only in HTML using `` for paragraphs, the response is adjusted accordingly.