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administrative powers vested with the elected bodies and transfer them back to the hands of officials of the SAR Government which is not built on an extensive electoral basis and lacks general recognition. Given the fact that the Chief Executive is not elected by referendum, centralization of powers in the executive body would indeed be entirely at variance with our pursuit for a democratic and open society.
As everybody knows, the Chief Executive admits that he is rather conservative in his attitude towards democracy. Given such a government, no wonder we suspect that the review is only a pretext while the SAR Government's real intention is to suppress public involvement in democracy. This is very worrying indeed.
Inevitably some Members who spoke just now mentioned that no one would object to the review, because the Government is acting under the slogans of streamlining the structure and improving efficiency. It is unlikely that anyone would object to a review and study under such a premise, which promises a bright future. Councillors who are members of the Democratic Party consider that the study could be carried out, but we consider that there is one major premise. The study and review must be carried out under this major premise, and that is, public involvement in the administration of Hong Kong must be enhanced and retrogression in democracy must be carefully avoided. The review and study would be worthwhile only if they were conducted under this major premise.
A few Members have spoken on the question of retrogression in democracy. I too will make my response later. I hope the review will be carried out under four principles. In the near future, there will be various opportunities for discussion with the Urban Council and I hope that these four principles will form the basis of our discussion.
Firstly, about the review of district organizations, broadly speaking our starting point should be a representative government. Why doesn't the central government propose an overall review of all the four tiers, that is, the Chief Executive, the Legislative Council, the municipal councils and the District Boards, which actually form a continuous link? Why of all these only the two councils and the District Boards will be reviewed? I think we should strongly put up a case for a series of comprehensive reviews rather than simply pick out two tiers for a review. Is the central government going to fulfil its promise of holding full direct election of the Chief Executive in 2007? Recently both Mr. Michael SUEN and the Chief Executive have mentioned about leaving everything to 2007, when there will be a full direct election for either the Chief Executive or the Legislative Council. I consider that the central government should make an undertaking. Indeed what are their views and what is the progress for the development of a fully democratic representative government? I consider that the central government should handle these as well. It must not
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