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of assessment of local opinion. than an objective view of
A Parliamentary Clerk could not
the procedures themselves.
really help with this.
Conclusion
11.
The re is
certainly scope for improving popular
consultation and public
public relations in Hong Kong. But even
if this is done successfully, there will still
be more
political
to, and we
controversy in Hong Kong than we have been used
shall have to learn to live with this. It will
at times be uncomfortable. The next 12 years will not be
they wil1 be as hard as the last
a
time for
relaxation:
three, if not harder.
23 July 1985
Jesam
A C Galsworthy
Hong kong Department
As the submission points out, the political scene in Hong Kong is evolving rapidly and often in unpredictable
directions. Hong Kong people have had to face two years of agonising uncertainty while their political future was being discussed in secret. Now that the general shape of the future is clear, leaders and would-be leaders are beginning to adjust. They know that the present structure will vanish in the fairly
near future. Some scent power. Furthermore, the many indefinable levers by which a government, particularly in Asia, exercises control will progressively weaken as we approach the end of British sovereignty.
2. I would add two points to Mr Galsworthy's general back-
ground analysis:-
(i) The Hong Kong PR apparatus is capable of being
very effective. Indeed, one of its faults is a
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