CONFIDENTIAL
Committees.
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The increasing politicization of the Council has meant that, in order to retain their credibility, they see a need publicly to criticize the Government from time to time, whereas previously they would have made their points in private. But they usually criticise in a positive and constructive way, working for a consensus where possible.
20.
The appointed members are, in general, an impressive group who have served Hong Kong well. That this is recognised in the community, if not always by the media, was shown in the report of the Survey Office set up to compile public reaction to the 1987 Green Paper on the development of representative government. This recorded that a majority of members of the public wished to retain the present number of appointed members: only a tiny fraction wished to abolish the appointment system altogether.
21.
Since their first appearance in the Council in 1985, the elected members have not acted as a single unified body. Most prominent has been a radical group of some 5-6 members headed by Mr. Martin Lee, the representative of the legal functional constituency. This group has made good use of media attention; espoused numerous populist causes; and sought to make the case for the early introduction of direct elections by discrediting the administration and its policies at every opportunity. The remaining elected members have generally distanced themselves from this group. Their stance has been largely determined by the issues. Sometimes they have aligned themselves with the Government: sometimes with its critics.
22.
It would be misleading to think of the appointed and elected members as distinct groups, as though they formed a Government party and an opposition. The Hong Kong system does not work that way. The appointed members do not take instructions from the Government. The elected members do not automatically oppose it. One interesting development in the past three years has been the gradual emergence of quasi-political groupings which cut across the lines of those appointed or elected. Both the "moderates" and the "democrats", led respectively by Mr. Allen Lee, an appointed member, and Mr. Martin Lee, an elected member, hold weekly lunches for their adherents. At these occasions they plan their strategy in the Council and decide who should speak on what subjects. Such groupings are still relatively new. How they develop may depend to a considerable extent on what changes take place as a result of the 1988 elections. But it is possible that we are seeing the start of a change that could shape the way in which LegCo operates up to and beyond 1997, and which could carry through into a time when all the members of the Council are elected.
CONFIDENTIAL
/It is not
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