Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass: "Somehow it seems to fill my head with ideas only I don't know exactly what they
are!"
-
But
an
I accept the logic of awaiting the outcome of the Basic Law drafting effort, to avoid any need for further backtracking or sidestepping during the transition period, on the other hand, would this same logic not suggest that the
What changes now proposed for 1991 might also be premature? happens if the aspirations of the Hong Kong community are for a continuous increase in the number of directly-elected LegCo
a not totally hypothetical Members in the period up to 1997 - assumption - while the Basic Law retains a fixed minority equally strong possibility, judging from the latest drafting discussions? Should the White Paper not have addressed this potential conflict, to forestall a new wave of disenchantment
What indeed is the logic or building up before or after 1991? the attraction of having "partial" direct elections, creating an impotent minority of legislators but who are personally accountable to the electorate at large, if ultimately all legislators have to be elected anyway to satisfy the Joint Declaration? Sir, are we not creating a hybrid that will give us the worst of all possible worlds?
In previous debates (5th November 1986 and 16th July 1987), I have at some length explained the reasons for my opposition to a Westminster-style parliamentary system and to direct elections to this Council at this particular stage of Hong Kong's political development; reasons that are considered valid and shared by others in the community. I shall not waste Members' time in repetition, and since the majority view has expressed itself in favour of direct elections, I naturally accept this verdict. But public opinion was not at all definite about the timing of direct elections after 1988, and clearly not fully conversant with the potential drawbacks in the creation of a confrontational style of government in a
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