TNAG-2013-FCO40-2865A-Constitutional-development-in-Hong-Kong-1991-1990 — Page 132

HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL — 1 March 1990

香港立法局—————————一九九0年三月一日

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Chinese Government. We hope that that government will be prepared to keep an open mind on the pace of political development here. Clearly the performance of the 1991 legislature will be the most important factor in influencing the Chinese Government on the way forward.

Attitudes in Hong Kong have changed over the past three years and we have responded to the demand for a faster pace of democracy by increasing the number of directly elected seats from our previously announced 10 in the 1988 White Paper to 18 in 1991. The success of democractic government in Hong Kong will depend very much on the quality of candidates who come forward in that election and the turnout of the voters. We have said that we will announce shortly the composition of the Council in 1991, the constitutional boundaries and the type of voting system. In considering all these important matters our concern is to devise as fair a system as possible, a system which will not favour any particular group in the community over any other, and to encourage as many people as possible to participate and to vote. This Council, Sir, will of course have the opportunity to scrutinize and debate the legislation which will give affect to those arrangements. But elections are not simply a matter of electoral arrangements. In order to succeed we must have the wholehearted and active support of the community in 1991.

The 1991 elections will mark a major step forward in the development of democratic institutions in Hong Kong. They will be a tangible demonstration of our resolve to develop a political system based on electoral choice. With choice comes responsibility: the responsibility of the ablest in our community to stand for office; the responsibility of the electorate to exercise their choice, and to exercise it wisely; and the responsibility of leadership. Increasingly the people of Hong Kong will be looking to their representatives in this Council for the leadership needed to see them through the uncertainties which lie ahead.

We need people of commitment and vision to take up the challenge of leading Hong Kong into the next century; leaders who will act in the overall interest of Hong Kong rather than on the basis of narrow factional interest. It will not help if we waste our time in castigating China or Britian for what has gone wrong in the past or indeed what may go wrong in the future. Above all we must look forward rather than backward. At this point in our history we must accept that if Hong Kong is to continue to be successful our future destiny lies with us.

The Basic Law provides a framework within which Hong Kong can continue to be successful. The fundamentals on which Hong Kong's success in the past has been built have not changed nor are they likely to change in the

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