TNAG-1286-FCO40-16372-Constitutional-development-in-Hong-Kong.-Part-2-of-2-1984 — Page 18

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Mr

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Ik as to what the White Paper Cutans aly changes from the free one

THE GREEN PAPER ON THE FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT IN HONG KONG

THANKS

You asked me to look at the attached speeches made by Unofficials during the Legislative Council debate on 2 August and

1.

t 0 see if there were any significant points raised.

THE DEBATE IN GENERAL

2.

All the Unofficials

were in favour of Mr Lobo' S motion

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that this Council welcomes government's publication of the Green Paper on the futher development of representative government in Hong Kong and commends it to the public for examination and comments". They all recognised the need for a gradual approach and most of them strongly supported indirect elections. Many of them spoke about the problems and disruption which could arise if direct elections were introduced straight away. Some Unofficials also thought that the introduction of rapid democracy into Hong Kong could result in possible loss of confidence by investors etc.

3.

Many Unoffici a 1 S were concerned about the low level of voting in the district board elections and saw a need to educate the people of Hong Kong about their civic responsibility. The Honourable Wong Lam spoke about the need to develop "the public's consciousness in politics, civics and democracy".

4.

to

must

Several Unofficials spoke about the need for the Government actively solicit the views of the silent majority about the proposals. The Honourable Ho Kam-Fai said that "the Government take the initiative in encouraging and facilitating the silent, passive, withdrawn and inarticulate sections of the population to speak up on these important matters".

SPECIFIC REMARKS BY UNOFFICIALS

is

Etre a

15.

Miss Lydia Dunn's speech

worth a glance. She wondered if the proposals sufficiently emphasised that the Hong Kong government was moving away from the system of nomination. She went on to say that the government could only hope to get a high level of public participation in and support for the proposals if it emphasised that this was only the first step towards a Legislative Council, tre majority of whose members were elected. She advocated the introduction of a ministerial type of system. She said that the members of the Executive Council, should be endowed with Executive authority and take over responsibility for certain portfolios from Secretaries and become answerable for those portfolios in the Legislative Council.

16.

The Honourable Ho Kam-Fai said that whilst supporting the proposals in the Green Paper in general, he thought that the sy of election by functional constituencies ought to be abolished. believed that the appointment system served exactly the same

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