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The people of Hong Kong have been apolitical and this is understandable. This is not so much because Hong Kong is a colony where civics and politics had not been hot subjects in schools to the 2.6 million Hong Kong born, but more because that their parents who came to Hong Kong as refugees had received an overdose of politics in their motherland and their minds shunt this unproductive subject. As members of an intelligent and hardworking race, they will have to achieve something in other non-political fields to satisfy themselves and this may be one of the underlying reasons why Hong Kong people are so successful economically. Suddenly, the future of Hong Kong has zoomed to the forefront, and I am glad that they do now show a keen interest in
politics.
As to timing of the changes, it cannot be over-emphasized that the maintenance of a stable government is of paramount importance during this transition period. Taking it cautiously step by step would be better than a big leap forward over the cliff which may lead to disasterous results. Bearing in mind that it has taken several centuries for Britain to achieve the high level of democracy which their people is enjoying today, the schedule proposed in the Green Paper is therefore not too slow. It was only in 1981 that we had universal franchaise on the district level and by 1983, we already have 3 elected district board members in the Legislative Council. The Green Paper provides a definite schedule for further improvement.
The vocal minority which clamoured so much should be aware of the Chinese saying (螳螂捕蟬,不知黃雀在後 ) i.e. the mantis catching a cicada is unware of the oriole behind it. If they count the number of votes they estimate they would get and compare the figure with what the unions would get, they would discover that it will take a lot of hardwork to canvass for the votes of the disorganised silent majority, bearing in mind that the unions are well organised and may use the votes they can canvass as their powerful political weapons. I therefore urge that
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