XN000022-1992-10-08 — Page 21

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1992

20

GOVERNOR:

ON IT

THOUGHT THEM

TO

SIX OR BUT IT

AT THE ROLES.

FIRST OF ALL, THE BUSINESS COUNCIL WHICH I'VE PROPOSED, IT'S IS A NON-STATUTORY BODY. I HOPE THAT, WHEN THAT IS TRANSLATED,

NOBODY ON THE NOT TRANSLATED AS I THINK IT WAS YESTERDAY, AS ILLEGAL. BUSINESS COUNCIL WILL BE REMOTELY ILLEGAL. IT WILL BE A NON-STATUTORY

I BODY

DID I SAY THIS VERY OPENLY TO THE HONOURABLE MEMBER BUT

CHANNEL OF FEEL THE NECESSITY OF HAVING AS A MORE OPEN AND REGULAR COMMUNICATION WITH THE LEADERS OF THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY. BECAUSE, ALL THAT WE SET OUT TO DO, ALL OUR AMBITIONS, ARE ULTIMATELY DEPENDENT

HOW WELL THEY DO AND HOW WELL OUR ECONOMY PERFORMS. SO I

FOR WAS

TO HAVE AS MUCH ACCESS AS POSSIBLE IMPORTANT GOVERNMENT HOUSE. I IMAGINE THE COUNCIL WOULD PROBABLY MEET SEVEN TIMES A YEAR. IT WILL LOOK AT BROAD, STRATEGIC ISSUES WON'T BE LIKE THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL A DECISION MAKING BODY HEART OF GOVERNMENT AND I HOPE THAT NOBODY WILL CONFUSE THOSE I'M NOT SURE THAT THERE IS QUITE THE DICHOTOMY WHICH THE HONOURABLE

OF BETWEEN,

THOSE

RUN AS IT WERE, THE VIEWS

WHO MEMBER SUGGESTS

AND BUSINESSES

THE THOSE WHO WORK IN BUSINESSES. ONE OF

HAPPIEST FEATURES OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC LIFE IN HONG KONG IS THAT SOME OF THE THE DIVISIVENESS WHICH HAS HELPED IMPOVERISH COMMUNITIES ELSEWHERE ON

HERE. FACTORY FLOOR AND IN THE COMMERCIAL SECTOR, HASN'T EXISTED THINK THAT WHATEVER THE HISTORICAL REASONS FOR THAT, WHETHER THEY MARXIST OR NOT, WE HAVEN'T FORTUNATELY, SUFFERED FROM THAT SOCIAL ECONOMIC TENSION.

ALLOWING WE HAVE ALREADY OF COURSE, A WAY OF UNIONS ΤΟ FEED THEIR ADVICE THROUGH AN ADVISORY BODY TO

OF LABOUR. I DISCUSSED THAT WITH A DELEGATION OF UNION LEADERS, AS I'M SURE THE HONOURABLE MEMBER KNOWS, RECENTLY NOT ONLY DO I HOPE THAT THAT CHANNEL OF COMMUNICATION REMAINS HOPE MYSELF TO SEE LEADERS OF ORGANISED LABOUR IN HONG KONG REGULARLY WORK IN THE FUTURE. AND I HOPE THAT LEADERS OF LABOUR, AND THOSE WHO

FOR THROUGHOUT HONG KONG, WILL HAVE THEMSELVES WELCOMED THE PROPOSALS DISCUSSION THAT I HAVE PUT FORWARD ON FUNCTIONAL CONSTITUENCIES.

COMMISSIONER

MR

I

ARE

AND

THE

THE

TRADE

AND,

BUT I

BEARING ON

SZETO WAH (IN CANTONESE): MR PRESIDENT, YESTERDAY YOU SAID THAT THE LAST TIME WHEN YOU LEAVE HONG KONG IN 1997 ON A PLANE, WHETHER YOU'RE GOING TO FLY FROM CHEK LAP KOK WOULD NOT HAVE ANY THE CREDIT PEOPLE ARE GOING TO HEAP ON YOU OR OTHERWISE. SO WHAT DO YOU THINK WOULD AFFECT MOST THE CREDIT THAT PEOPLE WILL GIVE YOU?

OF FIRST 1997, THAT I

THEREAFTER.

ALL

HAD

I

IT

IS

IF

HOPE

I THINK TWO THINGS. GOVERNOR: WHETHER THEY THOUGHT, WHEN I LEFT HONG KONG IN SECURED THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE JOINT DECLARATION THINK

I THINK THE JOINT DECLARATION WAS A HISTORIC DOCUMENT, PRETTY

THAT MUCH A UNIQUE DOCUMENT IN HUMAN HISTORY, AND I THINK

OVERLAND TRAVELLING, I HOPE, WHEN I LEFT AT THE END OF JUNE IN 1997 BACK TO THE UNITED KINGDOM, BY MY OWN THROUGH-TRAIN I VERY MUCH THAT PEOPLE WILL FEEL THAT I'VE DISCHARGED THAT OBLIGATION.

T

I HOPE THEY WILL FEEL, SECONDLY, THAT I'VE DONE AS IMPORTANT A JOB AS THERE IS, HONOURABLY AND HONESTLY.

DR SAMUEL WONG:

GOVERNOR, FUNCTIONAL CONSTITUENCIES WERE CREATED TO ENSURE ALL IMPORTANT SECTORS OF OUR ECONOMY SHOULD HAVE A PART TO PLAY IN THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS. YOUR PROPOSAL, BY EXPANDING THE ELECTORAL BASE, YOU ARE IN FACT NEGATING THIS AND OVERTURNING A PRACTICE WHICH HAS STOOD THE TEST OF TIME. YOUR PROPOSAL CONTRARY TO THE SPIRIT OF THE BASIC LAW?

RATIONALE

ISN'T

/GOVERNOR: NO