China on this issue. It was time for the politicians in Hong Kong to act on what they had been saying. He agreed with the
comment that had been made on shared leadership and responsibility: it was always easier for politicians to operate when in opposition. He asked how the system would work with directly-elected politicians in LegCo. Was there a danger of a self-destruct button being pressed from inside? The solution should be for there to be active debate in LegCo, after which the government would receive the backing it needed.
9. Mr Yeung Sum said they were looking at setting up select committees on policy areas. One method might be to try and get consensus within policy groups before bills were tabled. Mr McGregor said that LegCo had very little power. He did not believe that the elections of 1991 would have a big impact on LegCo. People would vote for individuals; the new parties, with their emerging platforms and PR campaigns, were little known.
Government supporters would still far out number their opponents in LegCo. He stressed again the identity of views among the political parties on economic issues. Over 50% of the elections in functional groups would be contested by only one candidate; this reflected the people's fear of ignominy of losing an election. Mr Cheng agreed that the elections would revolve around individuals rather than issues. Lord Caithness asked how world opinion could be convinced that democracy was doing well in Hong Kong if the elections were contested by only one candidate in each constituency? Mr Yeung Sam said the parties needed access to free mailing and to TV debates if they were to build up support among the people. Mr Hu finished with an impassioned plea for Hong Kong politicians to learn to walk before they tried to run. He thought that between the 1991 and the 1995 elections, LegCo would still work by consensus. It would take time to build up a party system in order to exert real influence on the government.
24 September 1990
Robotlows
Robert Court
PS/Lord Caithness
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