TNAG-2013-FCO40-2865A-Constitutional-development-in-Hong-Kong-1991-1990 — Page 95

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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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Will we not be asked this question: Is the reality of the situation not that we have no means of ensuring that all our aspirations are faithfully reflected in the future Basic Law? Would we be accused of misleading the people of Hong Kong unless we tell them in no uncertain terms, as some of my colleagues have done, that all we can do is to try our best? Are we supposed to fight on irrespective of the consequences? Certainly not. But we can nevertheless take on this struggle step by step.

Any comparison of Hong Kong's and Eastern Europe's quests for democracy is fundamentally unsound. The Eastern Bloc's cause is founded not just on a love of freedom and democracy but also because of economic plight. Hong Kong has a lot to lose if we tip the balance the wrong way. One wrong step may cost us dearly. In this context, I would like to remind ourselves that the lesson to be learnt from all this is simply that we in Hong Kong have been masters of compromise in our dealings with China and the rest of the world. We have had to alter and to adapt to survive and to be successful. We can do it again.

There has been a suggestion that the second part of the Honourable Allen LEE's motion is too vague. I could not disagree more because it would not be possible to set out all that we should do to achieve a successful democratic system. What we should do, and can do, is to focus on the forthcoming 1991 reforms. If we are committed to this tiny dot on the South China coast, if we believe that Hong Kong has the ability to continue to thrive and prosper, we must stand together and do everything possible to make next year's direct elections a resounding success.

The introduction of direct elections to the legislature is the first and giant step towards a democratic government. But having directly elected lawmakers alone is not enough. To ensure that Hong Kong's first direct polls to the legislature would not end up as a failure or a farce, many things have to be done as soon as possible. I would like to point out several.

The first thing we should do is to decide upon the number of constituencies for direct polls and their boundaries because different methods of dividing Hong Kong for election purposes could bring about totally different political consequences. A balance should be struck to avoid gerrymandering by the Government as well as to ensure that a successful candidate would be able to reflect the views of his constituents to the legislature and, when making decisions, he would also take into account Hong Kong's interests as a whole.

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