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WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 1987
HE SAID TIMING WAS ALL-IMPORTANT AND THAT IN PRINCIPLE, HE WAS NOT AGAINST DIRECT ELECTION WHICH HE BELIEVED WOULD EVENTUALLY FORM PART OF THE ELECTION SYSTEM IN THE LEGISLATURE.
"BUT DIRECT ELECTIONS NEXT YEAR WOULD NOT BE A NATURAL EVOLUTIONARY PROGRESSION, HE NOTED.
*
HE SAID: "FOR ONE THING, WE SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWING OURSELVES ANYTHING LIKE ENOUGH TIME TO WORK OUT THE ELECTORAL DETAILS.
"FOR ANOTHER, TIME WOULD NOT BE AVAILABLE FOR INTENSIFYING PROCESS OF CIVIC EDUCATION
A PROCESS WHICH I BELIEVE IS ESSENTIAL PREREQUISITE TO DIRECT ELECTIONS.
▬▬
THE AN
HE SAID HONG KONG PEOPLE REALLY MUST MAKE UP THEIR MINDS ABOUT HOW SERIOUSLY THEY REGARDED THE BUSINESS OF HARMONISING THEIR POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS WITH THE SYSTEM THAT WOULD BE PROPOSED IN THE BASIC LAW.
"SURELY IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT WE GO HARMONISATION, OR CONVERGENCE," HE NOTED.
ALL-OUT TO ACHIEVE
AND "EVOLUTION"
MR CHENG FOUND THE WORDS "CONVERGENCE" PRACTICALLY INTERCHANGEABLE IN SUCH CONTEXT.
"IF YOU IMPERIL CONVERGENCE, THEN YOU'RE ENDANGERING THE EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS, AND VICE VERSA, HE SAID.
HE NOTED THAT FOUR PROFESSIONAL GROUPS IN THE ENGINEERS AND ASSOCIATED PROFESSIONS CONSTITUENCY HAD BEEN SEEKING THE VIEWS FROM THEIR MEMBERS ON THE GREEN PAPER.
SO FAR, TWO GROUPS OF SURVEY HAD BEEN COMPLETED BY THE HONG KONG INSTITUTE OF SURVEYORS AND A CONCERNED GROUP ON 1987 POLITICAL REVIEW, SHOWING THAT 39 PER CENT AND 60 PER CENT RESPECTIVELY OF THOSE RESPONDED SUPPORTED DIRECT ELECTIONS IN 1988.
MR CHENG SAID THE VIEWS ON THIS ISSUE WERE SPLIT UNFORTUNATELY BOTH GROUPS HAD RECEIVED VERY POOR RESPONSE. SILENT MAJORITY STILL REMAIN SILENT, HE NOTED.
*
AND "THE
TURNING TO THE ROLE OF THE FUNCTIONAL CONSTITUENCIES, MR CHENG SAID MEMBERS REPRESENTING THESE CONSTITUENCIES HAD MADE NOTABLE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS AND THAT THEIR PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE AND EXPERTISE HAD PROVED VERY VALUABLE IN THE PROCESS.
CONSTITUENCIES
HE FURTHER POINTED OUT THAT ELECTIVE FUNCTIONAL HAD BEEN INTRODUCED HERE AS A NATURAL PROGRESSION FROM A PREVIOUS INFORMAL SYSTEM OF APPOINTING MEMBERS AND THAT THEY HAD NOW PROVED THEMSELVES WELL WORTH RETAINING.
MR CHENG