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it. For the voice to be meaningful it must come from a good cross section of the population and it must be through their being part of the Legislature.
I do not believe that there is a way of assuring the election of representatives of the necessary cross section of the population unless the election process is designed to permit it to happen. The designing of election procedures, such as the introduction of Functional constituencies, with this objective in mind, is widely recognized as being acceptable. And, as it results in the election of representatives of the people, it is democratic. It is my belief that since the use of Functional constituencies generally results in the election of a better cross section of the population, whose interests are to be represented, it is a superior and more democratic form of election than the Direct election process.
With respect to the Direct election process, it is my sincere belief that it will consistently result in the election of people who have more day-to-day contact with large numbers of people, or who are good at speechmaking. These people are the Lawyers, the Academics and the Social workers. The backgrounds of the candidates who were successful in our last District Board Direct elections confirm my belief. If we add up the number of Lawyers, Academics and Social workers that are successful, we find that they aggregate to 45% of the number elected, as follows:
Lawyers-8%
Academics-16%
Social workers-21%
I cannot satisfy myself that a Legislature that is comprised of these percentages of Lawyers, Academics and Social workers would, or ever could, fairly represent the interests of a true cross section of the population of Hong Kong. And, if they do not, or cannot, we would not have true Democracy.
I have no grudge against Lawyers, Academics or Social workers. They just do not constitute a cross section of the population. This being the case, the election process should not make it easy for them to play a totally disproportionate role in our Legislature. They should be there, but their numbers should not be disproportionate.
The Government has announced that ten seats in the Legislature will be filled by Direct elections in 1991. I think the 1991 Direct elections should be looked upon as an experiment. Their results should be analyzed and used to decide on the pace of further increases in Directly elected seats. And, while it might be easier for us to gain recognition as being Democratic in the eyes of others if we went the route of Direct elections, I believe that such recognition would be gained in a superficial way. If the results are not truly representative, then we would not have achieved the representation of the people regardless of whether the system used is one that is believed to bring about that result.
Direct elections can only really result in a true representation when there is perfection in the level of information available for the electors, and perfection in their level of sophistication and experience. In the absence of these conditions, and I submit that they are not fully existent in our community, some form of adjustment is necessary. My view is that such adjustment, in the form of the reserving of seats for Functional constituencies, is required for us to have true Democracy in Hong Kong.
With respect to the 'Mainstream Formula', it is a compromise. I am not surprised that Hong Kong's budding Politicians have taken rather hard lines with respect to it and that they appear not willing to compromise. Politicians do not readily compromise. Politicians cannot be seen to easily change their stands. Compromise is for ordinary people. Fully fledged Politicians often hold onto their uncompromising platforms, even at the risk of defeat. Maybe we are expecting too much for Hong Kong's budding Politicians to compromise.
I believe the Mainstream Formula goes too far in trying to please all sides. It foresees up to 50% of the seats being filled on a Directly elected basis. This is more than I can accept at present in view of the experience that we have had with Direct elections.
Now to the subject of the Chief Executive, I am totally against a Directly elected Chief Executive. I believe that the Chief Executive has to gain the support of the Legislature. We do not need confrontation politics in Hong Kong. What is the value of a Chief Executive who does not have popular support in the Legislature? I strongly believe that the Chief Executive must have majority support from the Legislature. Hence, I believe that the Chief Executive should be nominated and elected by members of the Legislature.
Another point I would like to bring out is that we are faced with a possible major turnover among the members of our Legislature between now and 1995. This is because of the commitment that all seats would be filled by elected members on July 1, 1997 and because of the 'through train' proposal, which provides that the Legislature in place in 1995 will continue to 1999. The reality is that the next six years could see over half of the members of the Legislature being completely renewed. This would involve a major change, a significant loss of continuity and much learning. We must attempt to see that a change of the magnitude I feel possible does not happen all at once. Any change should be as gradual as possible to avoid loss of momentum. In keeping with this, I suggest that the 1991 Direct elections should be a step in the process of deciding how much further to go with the process of introducing further Directly elected seats in 1995. In parallel, I believe more seats should be given to the Functional constituencies in 1991. This would help to assure that there would be a less drastic change in 1995.
In closing, I would like it to be known that I am against referendums to decide on issues. A referendum is too simplistic to solve complex issues. It basically only permits decisions on matters that can be resolved on the basis of 'yes' or 'no' answers. The world is not made up of 'yesses' or 'nos'. It involves
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