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had been as decisive as those on all the other key
issues in the Green Paper, and had clearly supported
3 their demands, I, and I have no doubt, all my colleagues
on the Executive Council, would have advised you, Sir,
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to introduce direct elections this year. But no responsible government can make or should attempt
to make, radical constitutional changes without clear community support. Controversial changes need a broad
consensus to sustain them.
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Whichever way we analyse the results
of the survey office, we cannot get away from the fact that public opinion on this issue was obviously split? and it is not a simple question of whether more people were for and less against A but whether the Government could ignore the genuine reservations of so many in the community who were against change in 1988.
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It is clearly right to introduce
direct elections in 1991. I hope that those people 21 who are presently disappointed by this historic proposal . 22 will take comfort from the fact that they have won
the point of principle, that Hong Kong should have direct elections. I hope that they will now put aside their disappointment and that we can move on together to make a success of direct elections in 1991, and the many other problems that we face in these years of
transition.
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I am not trying to diminish the importance of the debate over direct elections when I say it is unfortunate that so much attention has been given to this one issue. It has distracted too much attention from other important matters. instance, scant attention has been given to the notable achievements of the Joint Liaison Group, which has
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