TNAG-1286-FCO40-16372-Constitutional-development-in-Hong-Kong.-Part-2-of-2-1984 — Page 71

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DRAFT SPEECH BY HON. MRS. SELINA CHOW, JP ON UNOFFICIAL MEMBER'S MOTION LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 2.8.84

Sir,

Undoubtedly the most controversial debate on the Green

Paper surrounds the issue of whether election to LegCo should

be direct or indirect.

In my humble opinion, there is the danger of placing

too much emphasis on this one aspect of the proposed system

while missing out on other perhaps even more important areas

and thereby losing sight of the effectiveness of the machinery

as a whole.

But first allow me to say a few words on indirect

election which I believe is the only way open to us at this

point in time which will guarantee the following:-

(1) It expands the representativeness of the Legislative

Council.

(2)

It offers a reliable method of sorting and sifting of people to serve on LegCo through the evaluation of their performance by their peers in district boards,

regional councils or functional groups.

(3) It avoids the possibility of candidates who have no

previous experience and track record to be lodged in

the Legislative Council as a result of poor voters'

turn-out in some constituencies.

Direction election as advocated by some is to say the least

unusual in Hong Kong's circumstances.

We do not have a party system similar to that of

western democracies, whereby candidates are screened by the

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