TNAG-1357-FCO40-1798-Constitutional-development-in-Hong-Kong-1985 — Page 146

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And there are many who will say that this is precisely what Hong Kong needs by way of government as it enters into this very delicate period in its existence. Prosperity and stability have to be maintained. Closer links have to be established with China, the future sovereign power. Public confidence has to be sustained. It is not an easy task.

Cautious Coalition

My concern is that in this situation the tendency of this coalition between a reformed and supposedly representative legislature and the civil servants who are the real masters of our destiny will be to favour less open rather than more open government. It will be argued that the increasingly sensitive political situation demands greater government confidentiality, firmness of purpose and direction and discretion in answering questions about what the government is doing.

Civil servants may well argue that because the new elected legislature is more "representative" of public opinion they are no longer under the same obligation to seek the views of a wide spectrum of Hong Kong society, as they were before these reforms when government conducted its public affairs by "consultation and concensus". Hong Kong experienced an unpleasant foretaste of this kind of action in the case of the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Bill earlier this

This mockery of good government brought out clearly the severe limitations of UMELCO in discerning public opinion and its incompetance as a watch-dog of the public's interests, as well as illustrating the maxim that arrogance is the child of power.

P And P or C And C

Government by P and P (if I may coin a term) rather than C and C would not be a happy development for Hong Kong. If this is where the 1984 White Paper is leading us, then Hong Kong will be moving further and further from what the Green Paper promised and which in conclusion repeat

"a system of government, the authority for which is firmly rooted in Hong Kong, which is able to represent authoritatively, the views of the people of Hong Kong and which is more directly accountable to the people of Hong Kong".

A Trojan Horse

I began by describing the "democratisation" of Hong Kong as a grand illusion. I will end by suggesting that it is also a Trojan horse. Hong Kong people should stop gaping at this foreign animal dragged into their midst by three governments anxious to appease 5 million free people on whom they have imposed one of the most callous diplomatic accommodations of all time. Cosmetic democracy is not going to solve their problem of how to get strong and representative government in Hong Kong when the British go.

To do that Hong Kong people have got to understand who holds executive power in Hong Kong now, and who will hold it in the future; and they have got to decide urgently what has to be done to ensure that the people who exercise that power do so in ways that are consistent with the interests and aspirations of the wider community.

The 1984 White Paper does not provide the answers to any of these questions.

END