XN000022-1995-11-16 — Page 14

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Governor: I much enjoyed seeing the honourable member at the moving Cenotaph ceremony last Sunday, and I noted that the honourable member was in full gear; and 1 was in what has been gubernatorial full gear - at least since 1992; and the judges were in full gear. And we all know that an independent judiciary is one of the most important bulwarks in protecting and preserving the rule of law and hence Hong Kong's freedom and pluralism, both today and in the future. I have confidence in our Judiciary and I also have respect for the separation of constitutional powers, which means that this Legislature makes laws, and means that the judiciary implement the laws which this Legislature makes. And that is the constitutional position today, and will continue to be the Constitutional position.

Now, there are slight differences between the Constitutions of different communities. In this community the Chief Justice used to be a Member of the Legislative Council, in the last century. In the United Kingdom the head of the judiciary is a member of the Government, a member of the Cabinet. In the United States there is an absolute and clear separation of powers and those things would be impossible. But whatever the nuances of constitutional difference, wherever there is the rule of law you have a clear recognition of the leading roles of the legislature in making laws, and the judiciary in implementing them. This Chamber recognises some of the consequences of that; you have in your Standing Orders specific rules which you follow about not criticising the judiciary. And that is as it should be in any honourable legislature like this one.

I am sure that just as this Legislature respects the role of the judiciary, so the judiciary today and in the future will continue to respect the role of the legislature. And we certainly do that in Government, and the Judiciary has my full confidence.

Mr Tsang Kin-shing (in Chinese): Mr Governor, I don't think I should further argue any point with you because we would be talking about interfering with the Judiciary, but I would like to go back to Mr Fred Li's point. Now, in the Construction Training

Course, they do not really cover the demolition procedures.

The President: You cannot ask a question which is not related to your original question. I'm sorry.

Mr Yum Sin-ling: Mr Governor, I would like to follow up on the debt owed by the UNHCR. We, the Panel on Security, have had a meeting with the responsible person from the UNHCR and he told us that how soon he can repay the debt depends on the donations from other countries. So, we think we should have a binding contract - some sort of contract - with repayments scheduled, so that they can show it to other countries who are willing to donate, then that would help his job and also help the repayment to us.