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(c) He must also be a person who understands human nature and mentalities of at least the people in the field he is supposed to represent so that he can make a correct assessment of the human factors and human impacts of the decisions, derived from the facts. This is especially so when facts and human reactions can in certain cases be very incompatible.
(d) In the event that the other representatives representing interests and people in other fields do not share his views by reason of their lack of understanding of the field concerned, he must be eloquent enough to advocate for his field capably and to convince the dissenting representatives in the body. Failure to do so will make truth bend to ignorance. This is so because 'walking encyclopaedia' in one field may be a neophyte in other fields. It is therefore up to the advocate for one field to persuade and convince his learned colleagues representing other fields to share the light of the truth.
(e) Convincing the learned colleagues in the Government machineries may be easier than convincing the grassroots who do not talk the same languages and share the same mentalities as the intellectuals. In the circumstances, it is incumbent upon him to convince those people of the reasons for certain decision which may not appear to be reasonable in the eyes of the non-intellectuals. That being the case, he must be a person who can command respect and confidence from the people and use simple and convincing language to make them understand some complicated Governmental decisions.
However, a man who possesses the first four kinds of quality will be so valuable in the business or professional sectors that he can hardly have time to spare for public service and a man who possesses the last kind of quality must have spent a huge amount of time on successful public service to win the respect and confidence of the people that he can hardly have time to build up the first four kinds of qualities. The persons who possess the two groups of qualities are too rare to find.
In the past and even at present, Government's appointment only extended to those who have little or no mass foundation. Very few of the appointed have won respect and confidence from the mass of the people by virtue of their public service for and among them. On the contrary, those who have won such respect and confidence have been looked upon by Government with suspicion, alertness, reservation and to certain extent hostility. Discrimination against them is obvious.
Therefore, the laws and policies making machineries are currently composed of only those who normally possess the first, second and fourth kinds of qualities but not the third and the last. As a result, many mistakes and errors on human impacts have been made repeatedly in the past and even at present, affecting adversely the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong.
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If Government shall continue to adopt such biased attitude, direct election is the only way to keep the laws and policies making bodies on a more balanced representative foundation. The Green Paper appears to be too reserved so far as direct election is concerned. What harm will there be done if elected seats are out-balanced by the appointed or indirectly elected seats?
Direct election is also considered desirable as a matter of practice for the self-government as from 1997. However, from now to 1997, we only have a limited number of elections. We must make full use of the opportunities of practising direct elections. There should not be delay!
I support the motion, Mr. Chairman.
MR. HILTON CHEONG-LEEN, CHAIRMAN, URBAN COUNCIL (in Cantonese): I would now like to close the Council's debate on the Green Paper on the ‘Further Development of Representative Government in Hong Kong'.
During the two-day debate, Members of this Council have expressed their views on the various proposals in the Green Paper. Their respective views will be forwarded to Government for further study and consideration.
It could be argued that the Green Paper is broadly based on Hong Kong's existing administrative system, which will progressively change to reflect the terms of the Sino-British Agreement which is expected to be signed by the end of this year.
Such changes involving the administrative structure should take place in order to preserve and enhance Hong Kong's role as a free port, an international centre of commerce, industry and of finance.
The proposal for having functional constituencies is unique and is designed to reflect the special needs of Hong Kong. Some of the functional constituencies from which membership to the Legislative Council could be elected are:
Education
Town Planning and Architecture
Engineering and Computer Field
Accounting and Managerial
Finance and Banking
Medical
Legal
Trade Unions
Commerce
Industry
In the coming weeks, our efforts should be directed to the registration as voters for the 1985 District Boards election. I understand that the target is to increase the number of registered voters from 900,000 to 1.5 million, out of a total potential electorate of 2.9 million. I urge members of the public to do their duty as Hong Kong citizens and to register if they have not yet done so.