Miss Maria TAM said that the 1987 review should include an assessment on the experience of political movements in Hong Kong. She was of the view that the question of whether there would be direct election to LegCo, how the executive authorities would be accountable to the legislature, and whether some kind of ministerial system would be suitable for Hong Kong should be examined in the course of the review.
Dr Henrietta IP pointed out that to avoid confusion, the number of elections should be held to a minimum and the timing of these elections should be brought in line as far as possible. She considered that a LegCo Member should be disqualified from holding office when he no longer held the qualifications which had enabled him to stand as a candidate in the first place. In addition, she favoured a much expanded LegCo with a doubling of the number of representatives from the electoral college and functional constituencies and a longer term of office of four years.
Echoing the views of other Members, Mr CHAN Ying-lun called for the establishment of a well-tested representative government before 1997. He agreed to indirect elections at the present stage, but believed that direct elections should be introduced later on. At the same time, the feasibility of a ministerial system should also be seriously considered. He fully supported the proposal in the Green Paper that four and eight Unofficial Members of LegCo should be elected to ExCo in 1988 and 1991 respectively.
Mrs Rita FAN agreed with Mr S L CHEN and Mr JJ Swaine that the main objective of representative government was to maintain social stability and economic prosperity and that the merits of the existing systems should be preserved. She said that the development of representative government had to be accomplished in the early 1990s and she considered the proposals set out in the White Paper as a feasible and practical start.
Mrs Pauline NG strongly supported the increase in the number of LegCo Members from six to 12 to be returned by the electoral college and functional constituencies respectively. She said that consideration should be given in the 1987 review to further double this number for electoral college constituencies. Moreover, she fully agreed with the White Paper on the
important role played by civic education in the development of representative government.
Mr Peter POON said that the proposals in the White Paper generally met the purpose of moving towards democracy at a pace to which Hong Kong could adapt. He asked that the Government should consider giving a seat in LegCo to each District Board and designating the accountancy profession as a functional constituency in the 1987 review.
Mr YEUNG Po-kwan warned that any social disorder and economic setback caused by political reform might be interpreted by China as failure on the part of Britain to fulfil the Sino-British Joint Declaration. He pointed out that elected LegCo Members should be cautious, objective, impartial and should ensure that all Government policies could keep a balanced development with due regard to all sectors of the community. He further urged that Government should continue to strengthen the cooperation between China and Hong Kong and should make definite arrangements for direct election as soon as possible.
Dr Kim CHAM concurred that the accounting profession should be included as a functional constituency. He said that all eligible voters should be automatically registered and Government should examine the practicability of compulsory voting in direct elections and the feasibility of a two-stage voting procedure to ensure that the elected candidate would be supported by a majority.
Mr Keith LAM said that all members of the District Boards, Urban Council and Regional Council should be directly elected from 1988 onwards and they should have their representatives in LegCo by then. He pointed out that the number of functional constituency seats should not be substantially increased and at most only the accounting profession should be added. He further opined that consideration should be given to setting up three directly elected seats for the three main geographic regions in the 1987 review.
Mr Carl TONG observed that there was a need for a more effective and comprehensive system of civic education. He was of the view that the appointment system still had an important role to play in the years to come whilst the concept of functional constituencies was not practicable
and should be abolished. He supported the call for an increase in the number of seats in the electoral college so that each District Board would have its own seat in LegCo.
Summing up, Sir Roger Lobo said that Unofficial Members generally supported the motion and the aims and intentions set out in the White Paper and the proposals constituted a sensible first step towards implementing the provisions in Annex I to the Joint Declaration. However, he stressed that elected Members should always bear in mind that their overriding objective and mandate was to maintain the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong. Should they fail to appreciate this, progress towards a fully elected legislature was bound to be delayed or might be frustrated altogether.
The Chief Secretary and the Attorney General spoke in reply on behalf of the Administration. The Attorney General said that it was important to gain experience of the implementation of the proposals in the White Paper before the 1987 review. He stressed that it was difficult to chart the course of development in the system of government at this stage and any plan had to be compatible with the future Basic Law. In conclusion, the Chief Secretary assured Members that the points raised in the debate would be borne in mind in preparing the 1987 review which would be conducted on a structured basis.
The motion was carried with one abstention.
Legislative Council (Electoral Provisions) Bill 1985
First Reading: 13.3.85
Second and Third Readings: 3.4.85
The Bill sought to give legislative effect to the proposals in the 1984 White Paper on the Further Development of Representative Government in Hong Kong. It provided for the establishment of the electoral college and functional constituencies and set out the procedure for the elections to the Legislative Council.
In view of the far-reaching implications of this Bill, a LegCo Ad Hoc Group was formed under the convenership of Mr Peter C WONG to examine its provisions in detail. After the publication of the Bill, nine representations were received, mainly
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