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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
At present, most people still do not understand how District Boards work, nor do they know the relations of District Boards with the Urban Council as well as with the Legislative Council. Now that they are to choose from options in the Green Paper, they just have no idea. It is hard for them to decide. Thus the government will not be able to get the views of the majority on the political system.
The present situation is: on one hand, there are democratic personages advocating direct elections and opening of seats in the Legislative Council next year; on the other, there are those simply opposing direct elections next year.
Looking at the proposals in the Green Paper, from which the public are to make their options, one feels that the proposals are aimed at introducing District Boards into the Urban Council. This will of course be welcomed by District Boards. But looking more deeply, one sees that this will be highly detrimental to the functioning of the Urban Council as well as the relations between the District Boards.
At present, Urban Councillors are either directly elected or appointed. This is simple and good. Why add a system of indirect elections? Does the government not see or it sees but ignores--that this will lead to contradictions within District Boards? The nominations and elections of District Board chairmen, functional committee chairmen and Legislative Council members have caused conflicts within the current District Boards. The election of representatives to the Urban Council by District Boards will surely lead to political bargaining, formation of coteries and thus disintegration of District Boards. Is this for the well being of the public, and conducive to stability and prosperity?
If it is not contrary to the central government's earlier policy, I suggest the number of elected seats in the Urban Council be increased to strengthen its work force. The government may re-designate present constituencies so that each will comprise 220,000 or 230,000 people instead of the present 250,000. This will increase elected seats by about five.
Urban Councillors have the duty to work for the public. The increase in elected seats will result in a ratio of 20 to 15—a further step in developing democracy in this particular tier of government. This will not arouse any fear whatsoever.
There is presently no actual contradiction in the relations between the Urban Council and District Boards. Attendance by Urban Councillors and USD staff at District Board meetings is by no means lower than that by other government officials. Urban Councillors and USD staff are able to fully reflect views of District Board members. So why initiate a retrograde step in this tier? I hope the government will put forward a reasonable explanation with academical support to enlighten Hong Kong's majority.
(Mr. Peter C. K. CHAN left at 4:35 p.m.)
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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MISS FOK PUI-YEE (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, the Green Paper on 'The 1987 Review of Developments in Representative Government' published in May this year is, theoretically speaking, the continuation of the White Paper on 'The Further Development of Representative Government in Hong Kong' published in 1984, so its main theme should be a discussion on the Legislative Council. To one's surprise, however, the government has included in it the three-tier structure and the practical aspects of election, indicating its attitude of avoiding the important and dwelling on the trivial.
In discussing the relationship between the Urban Council and District Boards, Chapter III of the Green Paper makes the following description: 'most Urban Councillors do not show sufficient interest in district affairs and, as a result, have not been able to represent adequately in the Council the views and interests of District Board members, or to provide an effective link between the district and regional levels of government. Most District Board members see little point in Urban Councillors continuing to sit on District Boards' (paragraph 60).
The Urban Council is a policy-making body including 13 select committees and a great number of sub-committees. It is really impossible for the Councillors to attend all of them and understand the work of each committee, so they cannot report everything to District Boards. In this way, it should be the responsibility of the Urban Services Department to do so. Being the department to implement policies, surely the Urban Services Department would have a better understanding of the progress of various matters. The Urban Services Department also sends a number of staff members to sit on District Management Committees of various districts, so in case of a need to improve communication between District Boards and the Urban Council, the Department would be a very important bridge.
It is also mentioned in the Green Paper that the existing system of electing Urban Councillors through direct elections should be replaced with an indirect election system through which Urban Councillors are elected from among District Board members. First of all, this is indeed a retrogressive system. There is indeed a suspicion of discriminating against the Urban Council to suggest it having indirectly elected UC members when most members support the idea of carrying out direct elections in the Legislative Council so as to uphold democracy and promote public participation in politics. And, in electing Legco members from among District Board members, there have been divergence of views inside certain District Boards which gives rise to conflicts. Such evidence is good enough to show that it is likely to result in similar splits if Urban Councillors are elected through indirect elections. District Board members will also face the communication problems mentioned above when they become Urban Councillors. It is really impossible for Urban Councillors who formulate policies to take into consideration problems of every aspect and report them to District Boards, thus resulting in communication problem between District Boards and the Urban Council as well. The more serious is that driven by a