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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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agreement, together with the community's participation in the March 1985 district board election
(c) the implementation of the representative government to begin in March, but preferably September of 1986 so that the newly elected district boards, Regional Council and Urban Council will have settled in sufficiently to participate in higher levels of government, either through direct or indirect election.
Accountability, Authority and Representativeness
The proposals of the Green Paper are at odds with its objectives. Mention will be made of the following:
(a) the principle of one man one vote
(b) electoral college
(c) functional constituencies
(d) relation between central organs of government and the civil service.
Although not the sum total of any representative government, the principle of one man one vote is an essential element. Although not all men are born equal, they should not be made more unequal. The Green Paper proposes to do just that. To illustrate, a prominent medical doctor residing in the Peak area will have one vote arising from his geographical constituency; should he be resourceful and become successful in business as well, he is likely to have additional votes arising from his medical profession and his business activities. This is but one example. Such inequality I cannot find acceptable.
The concept of indirect election via the electoral college makes a farce of the objectives of direct accountability and authoritativeness—unless our government is not serious about them.
(a) Overburden:
A rough and very conservative (so conservative as to border upon unrealism) estimate puts the number of committee memberships (never mind chairmanship) for a D.B./LegCo part-time politician at 16, and that for a RegCo/LegCo part-time politician at 20 at the very least.
(b) Confusion to Voters:
Election platforms will become ludicrously grandiose so as to cover district, municipal ('regional') and central issues. The allegedly apathetic and unsophisticated voters are expected to pick candidates who will one day serve beyond the district level although they are primarily held accountable for their district-based performance and promises.
(c) Conflict of Interests:
As interests at different levels may be mutually conflicting, the effectiveness of our office-bearers will be hampered.
(d) Factions:
Factions and adversarial politics even though 'contained' within the electoral college will be just, if not more, debilitating if one accepts the premise that election necessarily gives rise to instability.
(e) Wasteful Exclusivity:
The district administration scheme came into existence only a few years ago. One cannot assume that people who have not participated in it are not capable of serving at central levels of government. It is wrong and wasteful to rest the future representative government upon an electoral college in which D.B. members are in the vast majority, particularly if one takes the view that each district board should elect its own representative to the LegCo.
The concept of functional constituencies is likewise contentious and convoluted. There are obvious definitional problems; it encourages factions and polarizes interests; introduces instability and is wasteful of resources.
A glaring gap in the Green Paper is the lack of review regarding the relation between LegCo and ExCo and how these two Councils relate to the Administration. The same bogey of instability was again put forward for not considering any changes towards giving LegCo and ExCo an executive role with respect to the civil service. An accountable government means just this—that the civil service should be accountable to the people through the two Councils. In my opinion, the future representative government, instead of indirect elections, should be a combination of the existing appointment system (which has served Hong Kong well) and direct election. The appointment system obviously needs improvement and this could be done by various means. The direct election needs only start with a manageable number subject to review. The ExCo should be made accountable to the LegCo which elects it and some development should be on the way to give the two Councils an executive hold of the Administration. Participants at central organs of government should be full-timers and Hong Kong British Passport holders. The linkages between the central (the two Councils) and the local ('regional' and district) levels should be further streamlined by either fully giving the RegCo and UrbCo regional status or amalgamate them with the district boards or with the 370 odd boards and committees. Let the community mature its thinking and give them more breathing space to do it, and for that reason, postpone the implementation of the representative government until 1986.
With these comments, Mr. Chairman, I support the motion.
MR. LO KING-MAN (in English):—Mr. Chairman, the people of Hong Kong have many outstanding attributes. Among these are their ingenuity, adaptability, and capacity for hard work. Given reasonable parameters allowing adequate scope for effective interaction of these qualities, Hong Kong can succeed in maintaining stability and prosperity, which is the undisputed common desire of the people of Hong Kong and the Governments of China and Britain.
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