XN000022-1987-07-15 — Page 20

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WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 1987

ELECTIONS SHOULD NOT BE IMPLEMENTED IN HASTE

THAT DIRECT AND REGARD ΤΟ THE

DR THE HON

(WEDNESDAY) HO KAM-FAI SAID TODAY ELECTION IS A FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE FOR HONG KONG'S POLITICAL REFORM SHOULD NOT BE IMPLEMENTED IN HASTE AND WITHOUT PROPER PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES PREVAILING IN HONG KONG.

WHICH AFTER

SPEAKING IN THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL DURING THE GREEN PAPER, DR HO NOTED THAT THE BASIC LAW, FRAMEWORK FOR HONG KONG'S POLITICAL STRUCTURE PROMULGATED IN 1990.

THUS

"IT WILL SPECIFY, AMONG OTHER THINGS, ELECTION

HAVE AND WILL

SIGNIFICANT FORMATION AND COMPOSITION OF THE LEGISLATURE,

"DURING

DEBATE ON THE WOULD PROVIDE A 1997, WOULD BE

THE

FORM OR

FORMS OF

IMPLICATIONS " HE NOTED.

FOR THE

INCLINED TO REGARD UNDER THESE CIRCUMSTANCES, HE SAID HE WAS THE TWO-AND-A-HALF YEARS LEADING TO 1990 AS AN INTERIM PERIOD.

THIS SHORT RUN-UP, I PREFER ΤΟ SEE ONLY MINOR, IN ORDER ΤΟ INCREMENTAL CHANGES AT MOST TO OUR GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE,

LEAST DISTURBED, WHICH LEAVE THE PRESENT INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS ARE INSTRUMENTAL

ACHIEVING SOCIAL STABILITY AND ECONOMIC PROSPERITY, HE SAID.

IN

DR HO ADDED THAT IF REFORMS WERE INTRODUCED HURRIEDLY AND INCOMPATIBLE WITH RECKLESSLY AND WERE FOUND SHORTLY AFTERWARDS TO BE THE PROVISIONS OF THE BASIC LAW, THERE WAS

VIABLE NO OTHER ALTERNATIVE BUT TO HAVE THEM WITHDRAWN OR REVERSED IMMEDIATELY.

AND

"IN CASE OF THIS EVENTUALITY, OUR ECONOMY WILL INVARIABLY

SUFFER

DISRUPTIONS FROM TREMENDOUS

OUR CONFIDENCE POLITICAL FUTURE WILL LIKEWISE BE INFLICTED WITH LASTING SAID.

IN OUR

11 DAMAGE, HE

HOWEVER, DR HO BELEIVED THAT A FRANK, RATIONAL

AND DISPASSIONATE EXPRESSION OF LEGISLATIVE

THE COUNCIL'S VIEWS ON IN THE DEBATE SUBJECT OF DIRECT ELECTION

AND OTHER FORUMS WOULD OF THE LOCAL EFFECTIVELY SERVE THE PURPOSE OF DRAWING THE ATTENTION

CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE AND AND THE CHINESE MEMBERS OF THE BASIC LAW THE BASIC LAW DRAFTING COMMITTEE

PREFERENCE AND ASPIRATION FERVENTLY CHERISHED IN THE POLITICAL SYSTEM AFTER 1997.

TO THE

OF DIRECT

HE ALSO REMINDED PROPONENTS

ELECTION THAT DIRECT END IN ITSELF. IN ORDER ELECTION MUST NOT BE SEEN AS AN

FOR THE MAJORITY SPIRIT AND THE EFFECT OF DIRECT ELECTION TO REALISE, A GREAT OF THE POPULACE MUST HAVE ATTAINED A HIGH LEVEL OF POLITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND MATURITY, DR HO ADDED.

/HE SAID

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