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Conclusion
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
My suggestion concerning the proportion of different kinds of members of the Legco in 1988 is as follows:
1. Official Members: 10 (unchanged)
2. Appointed members: 13 (the present number is 22).
3. Members elected by the functional constituencies: 12 (unchanged)
4. Members elected by the electoral college: 12 (unchanged)
5. Directly elected members: 13 (elected by geographical constituencies. As regards the distribution, please see appendix).
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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the number of Councillors, on the contrary, is smaller. The directly elected members should therefore be increased so as to raise the ratio between the number of Urban Councillors and the population they serve.
Conclusion
A. The terms of reference of the District Board at present need not be changed.
B. The number of official District Board Members should be progressively reduced.
C. I object to electing representatives from among the urban District Board as Urban Councillors.
II. The Presidency of the Legislative Council
I agree that at the present stage, the Governor of Hong Kong should also be the president of the Legco. As the president of both the Exco and Legco, the Governor can ensure adequate communications between the two Councils and the authority of the Legco can be maintained. However, in the long run, when half of the seats in the Legco are directly elected, the president can be elected from among the members. After 1997, the chief executive should not act as president of the Legco concurrently.
III. The District Boards and the Municipal Councils
A.
B. The advisory role of the District Boards should remain unchanged.
As it is not yet certain whether the role of the Legco will undergo drastic changes after 1997, it would be inappropriate to modify that of the District Boards first.
The number of Appointed Members in the District Boards should be progressively reduced.
At present each District Board has an average of about 30 members, which is really too large a number with regard to the size of their respective constituencies and type of work. The number of official members should therefore be reduced while the number of elected members should remain unchanged in 1988, i.e. the ratio of elected official member is increased to 3:1. Finally, all District Board members should be elected.
C. Objection to representatives elected from among the urban District Boards as Urban Councillors
The dual-identity members, i.e. representative elected to the Urban Council from among District Board members, cannot and should not play the role of communicating and liaising between the two organizations. The suitable persons to be responsible for the communication between Urbco and District Boards should mainly be Government officials, i.e. from USD.
D. Directly elected members of the Urban Council should be increased.
The Urban Council deals with numerous matters. The population of its regional constituencies is greater than that of the Regional Council, but
D. Directly elected Urban Councillors should be increased.
IV. Practical Aspect of Elections
A. Sequence and Timing of Elections
I suggest that the date of the forthcoming District Board and Urban Council elections should remain unchanged i.e. District Board election to be held in March 1988 and Urban Council in 1989. If direct election is to be held for the Legco, the period between March and September of 1988 is recommended.
B. Terms of Office of Members
The term of office of members of the District Boards, Urban Council and Legislative Council should remain at three years.
C. Age of Entitlement to Vote and Eligibility for Candidature
We are of the view that the voting age should be lowered to 18 years whereas the age of eligibility for candidature should remain at 21 years.
D. Others
The public has already experienced direct election for four times. The Government should therefore dissuade candidates from canvassing votes on election days, particularly that of the District Boards and Urban Council, so that the public can cast their votes rationally and soberly under a calm atmosphere. The Government should also give consideration to the expansion of the controlled area of the present polling stations to ensure that the voters can, without being disturbed, enter the stations more easily.
MR. TONG KAM-BIU (in Cantonese):—Since the Hong Kong Government published a White Paper entitled 'The Further Development of Representative Government in Hong Kong' in 1984 till now, it has become clear that issues like the development of the Government system in the next ten years, the reversion of Hong Kong to China after 1997 and Hong Kong to become a Special Administrative Region governed by the local people have become everybody's topics for discussion.
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