TNAG-1442-FCO40-1926-Constitutional-development-in-Hong-Kong-1986 — Page 49

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17.

Until September 1985, all

members

of the Hong Kong legislature were appointed by Governor. They were selected

to represent important sectors of Hong Kong society. The

system of appointment was continued after that date to

provide for continuity in the legislature and to enable

Hong Kong to benefit from the services of people who either

do not have the time, because of other business

commitments, or would not be willing to become involved in

seeking membership through an electoral process.

have been suggestions that continue indefinitely (see 1984 White Paper, para 19).

appointed

There

members should

18.

The 10 official members present government proposals and draft legislation to the Council, account to the

legislature on behalf of the Government for government

policies, and answer questions on those policies.

As

19. As regards the future, one solution which has been

suggested is that all appointed members should be withdrawn from the legislative on a gradual basis. This would mean

that after 1997 membership of the legislature would be

confined to members chosen by direct election and/or

electoral colleges

colleges and/or functional constituencies.

regards officials, neither the Chief Executive nor his

principal officials would be voting members, although they

could appear before the legislature. The legislature

itself would thus have no equivalent of either the present

appointed or official members.

20.

This proposal might be workable, if it could be

confidently assumed that because the basic policies of the

HKSAR are set out in the Joint Declaration, the Chief

Executive's policies could always be expected to enjoy

sufficient support in a council elected by direct, indirect

or functional constituency methods. Such an assumption

might be valid if the Chief Executive:

(a)

were elected by the legislature (see paragraph 7(b) of

paper II); or

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