XN000022-1988-03-16 — Page 16

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 1988

"THIS I AM SURE COMES AS GOOD NEWS TO THOSE WHO WORKED HARD TO ACHIEVE THE EXTENSIVE COVERAGE, SHE SAID.

EFFORT TO BE

KONG

BY

"DO THEY NOT REALISE THAT IN THEIR HEADSTRONG HEARD, THAT THEY ARE DOING A TREMENDOUS DISSERVICE TO HONG DISTORTING THE TRUTH AND BY CREATING AN UGLY IMAGE OF INSTABILITY TOTALLY UNCHARACTERISTIC OF OUR COMMUNITY, AN IMAGE WHICH WOULD BE SO VERY HARMFUL TO INTERNATIONAL CONFIDENCE IN HONG KONG WHICH AT THIS STAGE IN OUR HISTORY WE MUST ALL. WANT AND SEEK TO MAINTAIN AND BUILD?

"DO THEY REALLY BELIEVE THEIR ACTION IS IN HONG KONG'S INTEREST? BEFORE THEY COME UP IN THEIR OWN DEFENCE THAT THEY ONLY DID IT FOR A MORE DEMOCRATIC HONG KONG, I SUGGEST THEY ASK THEMSELVES WHETHER WHAT THEY HAVE DONE, AND WHAT THEY HAVE ACHIEVED, REFLECT THE WISHES OF OUR PEOPLE, AND WHETHER THEY HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THE WELL-BEING OF OUR BELOVED COMMUNITY.

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MRS CHOW SAID SOME ACTIVISTS HAD DENOUNCED THE WHITE PAPER NOT ONLY FOR NOT INTRODUCING DIRECT ELECTIONS IN 1988, BUT ALSO FOR PROPOSING TO REPLACE THE DISTRICT BOARD ELECTORAL COLLEGE IN 1991 BY DIRECT ELECTIONS.

"WE DO NOT NEED LONG MEMORY ΤΟ RECALL, THAT ONLY IN 1985, IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE FIRST ROUND OF ELECTORAL COLLEGE ELECTIONS THAT THE SAME PEOPLE CRITICISED THE EXISTING INDIRECT METHOD AS DIVISIVE AND HARMFUL TO THE HARMONIOUS CO-OPERATION WITHIN THE DISTRICT BOARDS, AND ADVOCATED THAT IT SHOULD THEREFORE GIVE WAY TO DIRECT ELECTIONS, SHE SAID.

"NOW THAT SUCH VIEWS HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED BY GOVERNMENT AS THE BASIS FOR THE SUBSTITUTE OF INDIRECT BY DIRECT POPULIST ELECTIONS, THE ORIGINAL ADVOCATES HAVE BECOME ITS CRITICS.

SIMPLER,

"NO RATIONALE HAS BEEN GIVEN FOR THIS U-TURN, NONE EXISTS. ΤΟ REPLACE ONE WITH THE OTHER RENDERS THE METHOD AND THE SYSTEM CLEANER AND THEREFORE MORE EFFECTIVE.

THE

"1T ELIMINATES THE QUESTION OF DOUBLE LOYALTY. REPRESENTATIVES SO ELECTED ARE HELD DIRECTLY ACCOUNTABLE TO THE ELECTORATE."

MRS CHOW SAID THERE WAS 1 VIEW AT PRESENT CHAMPIONED BY ACADEMIC AND POLITICAL ORGANISATIONS THAT THE WHITE PAPER WAS THE

IN CAUSE FOR THE LOW TURNOUT OF VOTERS

LAST WEEK'S DISTRICT BOARD

ELECTIONS.

SHE SAID SUCH AN OPINION MUST BE BASED ON THE ASSUMPTION THAT EYE MOST CANDIDATES WHO JOINED THE DISTRICT BOARD ELECTIONS HAD THEIR ON A SEAT IN THE LEGISLATURE.

/"I WONDER