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the review in 1987 is completed. It is the manner of an open-minded and unprejudiced review which I am in favour of. With these qualifications, I support the motion in its broad spirit but certainly not by its narrow construction.
MR. HOWARD H. W. YOUNG (in English):- Mr. Chairman, by calling me, I think you have helped me to make up my mind whether to speak or not to speak. However, since I do not have a prepared speech, I shall do so in second gear for the benefit of the interpreters. I would like to make a few points on the White Paper on the Further Development of Representative Government. The first point is, and I am sure most Councillors here will agree with me, that whatever we come up with must be compatible with the Basic Law, which I now understand, will not be promulgated within a short time from today. The second point I would like to make is democracy that we are all talking about, has various interpretations and is certainly a very tantalizing word. I believe even Korea calls itself by the name of the People's Democratic Republic of Korea or something like that. But when we talk about democracy, and representative Government, I think we ought to not only just say that this is a very high sounding principle that we wish to strive for, we must also think hard what the objective of all this is for. I think even China today is strongly promoting the concept of seeking the truth from facts. If you look at the facts of Hong Kong over the last decade or so, I think on the one hand, you can say there has been no democracy in the true western sense, the major policy making body in Hong Kong is the LegCo, which up to this point in time, is still fully appointed. But then you look at the facts and the economic growth of Hong Kong, admittedly growth is uneven, but it has been shared by all and every one has benefited, so before we talk about knocking the system, I think we have to really think hard, is it democratic government, is it representative government or is it efficient government that we want, perhaps one of the three, perhaps all? We must not forget that democracy also has a price. Civil servants are paid for by taxpayers and they are there to work, if we have people who do not think but throw stones on them and make life difficult for them, I think it is the community in the end that will suffer. Therefore, I think when we have the review on Further Development of Representative Government in 1987, we must make sure that we come up with something that is just not sounding nice in theory, but also something if not better than at least no worse or equal to what we have now. I fully support Mrs. Elliott's point mentioned earlier on, that when it comes to elections that voters ought to elect people on the basis of what work they do, their qualifications and whether they will be able to look after the interests of the community as a whole. It has been pointed out and I believe that some members will be making the point later on, that the functional constituency is not very democratic and is not very fair, but I also believe in this world there is nothing that you can call absolute fairness. Even today, China has discarded what they previously regarded as fair, that is egalitarian principles.
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therefore, I think what we want to do is to come up with principles that can use the knowledge, the skills to work unselfishly for the community. I must say that whilst noting that the current system of appointment to LegCo is by no means democratic at all in the Western sense, I think it must be fair to note that so far the people in that chamber have been doing a good job. I believe a lot of them, if you look at the number of highly paid bankers, and what not, I am quite sure if they would use their time in doing their own business, they can get each higher returns than using the time in looking after Hong Kong affairs as a whole. So I think what we want to do is not to lose the advantages of the system we have, which in the past have provided a good framework for fast economic growth and to come up with something that will make us achieve even more and provide even higher quality of life for the people of Hong Kong. With that, Mr. Chairman, I support the spirit of the motion.
(Dr. Philip C. K. Kwok left at this point - -3.25 p.)
MR. JOSEPH Y. S. CHAN (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, on 21 November 1984, the White Paper on the further development of Representative Government in Hong Kong was published.
The contents of this White Paper have revealed the sincerity with which the Government will further develop representative government in Hong Kong so as to place the government in the hands of the Hong Kong people by 1997 and to enable us to shoulder the responsibilities.
Therefore the White Paper is actively progressive and on the whole, acceptable and deserving of our support.
1. The number of elected members will be increased from 12 to 24.
2. The number of appointed members will be reduced from 23 to 22.
3. The number of official members will be reduced from 13 to 10.
4. The total number of members will be increased from 48 to 56.
5. The electoral college will be developed into three separate groups: The District Boards, the Urban Council and the Regional Council, with adequate representation in the Legislative Council and hence closer relationship to one another.
6. A review to assess progress made in the development of representative government will be carried out in 1987 instead of 1989 as previously suggested.
7. The importance of civic education for the general public has been taken into account.
8. The extreme views against direct elections have been rejected.