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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
(Mr. Joseph Y. S. CHAN left the meeting at 4.05 p.m.)
MR. TONG KAM-BIU (in Cantonese):---Mr. Chairman, the Report of the Survey Office released last Wednesday aroused strong response and criticisms from the general public. Many experienced Councillors have already raised questions and expressed their views on the part concerning the Urban Council. I believe that we share the same opinions. Now, I would like to state my viewpoints on the question of direct elections.
After the publication of the Report, many people are discontented and shocked, especially those members of a group who are the advocates of demo-cratic systems and of direct elections in 1988. Being one of these advocates, I fully understand their resentment and discontent. Would any person be willing to have his/her submission misinterpreted or politically used? If the Survey Office has already decided to adopt a set of answers for the options given in the review of the Green Paper, the publicity campaign over the past four months was unnecessary and the Survey Office should not convey the message that developments in Representative Government will be based on public opinions, and that the general public should not give opinions on this topic enthusiastically. The authorities should just tell us directly the difficulties and the invisible pressure faced by the Government. I believe that the general public will understand them and give their support.
Nevertheless, the democratic group felt that 'tricks were really played on them after they had read the Report of the Survey Office. Therefore, their discontent and resentment burst out like torrents. The Survey Office is unfair by making use of such a statistical game to twist public opinions or mislead the people. The game is also unacceptable. In an unfair and partial way, the Survey Office handled the 220 000 signatories who gave real names and identity card numbers and support direct elections in 1988, together with the 70 000 letters who were against direct elections. By doing so the survey resulted in only 39 000 people supporting direct elections in 1988 whereas those of the against side totalled 90 000. However, according to the results given by three local pro-fessional survey companies, more than 40% of people interviewed in the poll were for the direct election and only about 20% were against it. The result of the Survey Office's Report differed very greatly from that obtained by the three companies. The public were therefore very angry at such misleading deed. They also worried and suspected the sincerity of the Government towards the review of developments in Representative Government. Though the authorities con-cerned had made several statements and explanations in the past few days, criticisms and discontent from the public are still increasing. I am afraid that Hong Kong, being internationally reputed, will become a laughing-stock in the world because of this public opinion survey. This report will be discussed in the Legislative Council meeting next Wednesday. We can see from past experience
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that those members of the Legislative Council who have some social conscience and speak for the public can neither change the present situation nor turn the tide. We just hope that the people of Hong Kong can heighten their awareness and learn from their experience. They should not feel discouraged but continue to unite together to strive for the goals of 'one-country-two-systems' and 'Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong democratically'.
Mr. Chairman, with these words, I support the motion.
MR. CHOW WAI-KEUNG (in Cantonese):-I feel that there is a great problem in the Survey Office's report. Although I agree to the two principles just mentioned by Mr. PAO, I feel that we not only have to remind ourselves of the principles to follow in reading this Report, but also have to remind the Exco members who are going to make the decision basing on this Report. Before the Report was made, we already felt that much effort would be required to do so and the conclusion would be rather controversial. Before the establishment of the Survey Office or the publication of the Green Paper, many people had already raised to the Government such questions as how would the public opinion be assessed and how would the final decision on political reform be made. Though many people pointed out the possibility of holding a referendum, the Govern-ment rejected this proposal and decided to conduct two territory-wide opinion surveys instead with a view to obtaining the comprehensive and objective views of the silent majority. As there was neither room for debate nor any alternatives, I believed that everyone would have to accept and wait for the Report of the Survey Office, particularly the findings of the two surveys. I think all of you would agree that as expected the Report is rather controversial and it is impossible to draw a definite conclusion.
As regards the findings of the two surveys, I think many people have already made their criticism. In my view, the surveys have their shortcomings. To judge whether the surveys have been well-conducted or not, the simplest way is to examine them from two aspects. The first one is whether the sampling of respondents is well-conducted or not and whether the respondents are representative enough or not. In this aspect, I do not doubt that the company has not done the sampling work well. However, the design of the questions will greatly affect the result of the surveys and the question concerning the introduction of direct elections in 1988, as designed by the survey company, is not so clear, I think that the pattern of presenting the questions should be based on some principles: first of all, the respondents should be asked whether they are in favour of a proposal or not, then the following questions should be the method and the timing of the elections. It is a pity that these points are included in the same question, making the question itself very confusing. In addition to the two public opinion surveys commissioned by the Government, the Survey Office has also gathered the results of over 100 surveys, most of which ask the question in the way I have just mentioned. This method is simple, direct and easily understood and also facilitates the expression of views. But it was not
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