TNAG-1750-FCO40-2470-Future-of-Hong-Kong-Parliamentary-debates-1988 — Page 79

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(b)

The decision to rush through

(c)

(d)

(e)

the very unpopular

vociferous

"false news" section in the Public Order (Amendment) Ordinance in March 1987, despite the most objections to it from the public;

that

The enactment of the Film Censorship Regulations in

revelation June 1987 in the wake of a shocking

by a journalist

the Hong Kong Government had been unlawfully censoring political

in films

Hong Kong for over 30 years, despite the advice from the Legal Department that it had no such authority to do so;

to

Kong

Government

the construction of

The obvious helplessness of the Hong in its handling of the horrifying mistake discovered in October 1987 in relation the foundation works at the Daya Bay nuclear plant site where 55% of the

starter bars h ad omitted in the first layer of concrete.

steel

been

The mis-handling of the financial crisis in October 1987 when the Administration

the allowed

general the stock committee of the Unified Exchange to close market for four days

when it did not have power to do so.

Report by published.

the Survey Office on the 1987 Political Review was The Report has been flawed glaring criticisms relate mo st key question contained in

two

public

The last straw came

on

4th November 1987

when the

the conducted

in

ways, many

but the to the phraseology of the

used Questionnaire

in the two

for the

Office Survey

by

opinion

surveys

distinction in the

treatment

both market research

A G.B. McNair H.K. Ltd. and the very unfair and unjustifiable of signatures collected by the pro-democratic camp and the Communist-inspired opposing camp. As to the first, experts in the field of and statistics have openly criticised the question relating to

issue the

of direct elections in 1988 as be ing totally unintelligable SO that no conclusion could be drawn from the findings. As to the second, experts could

70,000

why the

as

odd

pre-printed

reason any letters which

not see form standard

in 1988 had been 220,000 odd signatures 1988 were not So

opposed the introduction of direct elections treated

"submissions" whereas the collected in support of direct elections for treated.

The result was that a completely distorted and false conclusion was suggested in relation to this issue, namely, that the majority of the people of Hong Kong are opposed to

But the converse is true. For direct elections for 1988.

if

o ne were to disregard the

by AGB findings of the two surveys issue McNair on this

(according to expert

and advice)

look

instead at the

conducted by other 9 territory-wide surveys other professional pollsters,

if one were to give equal

treatment to

standard form letters pre-printed

according to

advice), expert is that there is clear majority support

signature

the

sheets (also

inevitable conclusion

and

for the introduction of direct election s supporting materials are set out in Annex 4.

in 1988.

and

the

The