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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
appointed Councillors, but they were also on opposing grounds. One year's experience proves that I have been completely wrong.'
It is true that before the Council's reconstitution in 1973, appointed and elected Councillors respected one another and there was no sharp division between the two groups. There was a tea gathering every month for exchanging opinions. Before the annual election of the various Select Committee Chairmen, Councillors were able to select a candidate acceptable to both the appointed and elected in an objective and unbiased manner by basing on the qualification, ability and interest of the various Councillors. In implementing the administration and policy of the government, appointed and elected Councillors often adopted the same stand and strived side by side for the good of the people. At meeting or other occasions when matters related to the Council were discussed, they could handle such matters in an objective manner even if they held divergent views.
Those were the good times that we miss very much and were proud of. Those were the days when all unofficial Councillors took the benefit of the public as their highest aim seriously.
At that time, the Urban Council was still confined to a corner of the USD headquarters on the 12th floor of the C.G.O. building. As a member of the staff there, I felt attached and proud. However, I lose this feeling in this splendid and awe-inspiring building which costs millions of dollars because mutual respect, the absence of sharp division and taking the benefit of the people as the major concern have all become relics of the past. There is instead the feat of wielding power, the strife for power and influence, secret deals and how to use people's tax-money to boost oneself.
Great indeed is the harm brought about by power!
Someone has likened power to drugs. Not only will you pursue it without stop, but you will want it more and more. In the end, principles can be discarded, faith and trust betrayed, and the end fervently sought regardless of the means.
After the withdrawal of the official members from the Council in 1973, the Government made a very clever arrangement of keeping an equal number of elected and appointed members. From then on, an intense struggle for power ensues, and the dirty tricks of politics appear in the Council. Some senior members whom I once respected gave up their usual upright stand for their personal interest or the interest of their camp. Some weak-minded members of the elected camp would even go over to the other side for a share of the prize. This has become a common phenomenon every year before the election of posts in the Council.
In fact, the arrangement of the Government is to kill two birds with one stone. On one hand, as the elected camp fails to be united, the appointed members can easily control the only Council in Hong Kong with elected members. On the other hand, the power struggle within the Council helps to expose the weaknesses of the electoral political system. Since the elected members cannot achieve much as they are frequently at a disadvantageous position, many well-qualified and capable citizens have lost interest in standing for election. Hence the Government can well proclaim its theory that the people of Hong Kong are not interested in the electoral system.
As it is proved in history, improvement and gradual reform in constitution are better than radical revolution!
It seems that the present situation of the Urban Council will continue for a time owing to the scattered and weak force of the elected members. Moreover, among the elected members, there are some who have no self-respect. As education becomes more and more popular, the political consciousness of the younger generation is slowly awakening. Every year a lot of young people return to Hong Kong after completing university education in democratic countries like England, America, Canada and Australia. They may be the main force in putting the constitution of Hong Kong on the road to democracy.
More and more people with higher education participate in various demonstrations and petitions; they make use of the mass media and public place to express their views. From these we know that the present situation of the Urban Council cannot last very long. The great wheel of time, unswervingly, rolls forward.
Before I conclude my speech, I have to emphasize that since the reconstitution of the Council in 1973, it is not true that we have done nothing. Many fellow Councillors who work according to their conscience did have done something for the benefit of the people. But I am in the full conviction that if the atmosphere in the Council is not so adverse, fellow Councillors can work in full play and there will surely be more and better achievement than the present.
I pray that people will work according to their conscience and the government will make wiser appraisal of the people's demand so that what I regarded as the Council's 'Dark Age' will end soon.
Page 86 of 136
139
MR. PETER P. F. CHAN (in English):—Mr. Chairman, with the commencement of the nineteen eighties, it is desirable, if not imperative, to seek the views of the central government about the government's policy on the future of the Urban Council and on the interpretation of some of the provisions in the Memorandum of Administrative Arrangements signed in June 1973. In the past years there was more than one occasion that each interpreted the provisions in a different way and some of the differences have not yet been bridged. Personally I think that this exercise is important because, rightly or wrongly, I for one, do have in mind that the central government has been, knowingly or unknowingly, trying to erode the Council's functions and its powers. Allow me to make some observations to justify my thoughts.
138
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
appointed Councillors, but they were also on opposing grounds. One year's
experience proves that I have been completely wrong.'
It is true that before the Council's reconstitution in 1973, appointed and elected Councillors respected one another and there was no sharp division between the two groups. There was a tea gathering every month for exchang. ing opinions. Before the annual election of the various Select Committee Chairmen, Councillors were able to select a candidate acceptable to both the appointed and elected in an objective and unbiased manner by basing on the qualification, ability and interest of the various Councillors. In imple menting the administration and policy of the government, appointed and elected Councillors often adopted the same stand and strived side by side for the good of the people. At meeting or other occasions when matters related to the Council were discussed, they could handle such matters in an objective manner even if they held divergent views.
Those were the good times that we miss very much and were proud of. those were the days when all unofficial Councillors took the benefit of the public as their highest aim seriously.
At that time, the Urban Council was still confined to a corner of the USD headquarters on the 12th floor of the C.G.O. building. As a member of the staff there, I felt attached and proud. However, I lose this feeling in this splendid and awe-inspiring building which costs millions of dollars because mutual respect, the absence of sharp division and taking the benefit of the people as the major concern have all become relics of the past. There is instead the feat of wielding power, the strife for power and influence, secret deals and how to use people's tax-money to boost oneself.
Great indeed is the harm brought about by power!
Someone has likened power to drugs. Not only will you pursue it without stop, but you will want it more and more. In the end, principles can be discarded, faith and trust betrayed, and the end fervently sought regardless of the means.
After the withdrawal of the official members from the Council in 1973. the Government made a very clever arrangement of keeping an equal number of elected and appointed members. From then on, an intense struggle for power ensues, and the dirty tricks of politics appear in the Council. Some senior members whom I once respected gave up their usual upright stand for their personal interest or the interest of their camp. Some weak-minded members of the elected camp would even go over to the other side for a share of the prize. This has become a common phenomenon every year before the election of posts in the Council.
In fact, the arrangement of the Government is to kill two birds with one stone. On one hand, as the elected camp fails to be united, the appointed members can easily control the only Council in Hong Kong with elected
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 86 of 136
139
members. On the other hand, the power struggle within the Council helps to expose the weaknesses of the electoral political system. Since the elected members cannot achieve much as they are frequently at a disadvantageous position, many well-qualified and capable citizens have lost interest in standing for election. Hence the Government can well proclaim its theory that the people of Hong Kong are not interested in the electoral system.
As it is proved in history, improvement and gradual reform in constitution
are better than radical revolution!
It seems that the present situation of the Urban Council will continue for a time owing to the scattered and weak force of the elected members. More- over, among the elected members, there are some who have no self-respect. As education becomes more and more popular, the political consciousness of the younger generation is slowly awakening. Every year a lot of young people return to Hong Kong after completing university education in democratic countries like England, America, Canada and Australia. They may be the main force in putting the constitution of Hong Kong on the road
to democracy.
More and more people with higher education participate in various demon- strations and petitions; they make use of the mass media and public place to express their views. From these we know that the present situation of the Urban Council cannot last very long. The great wheel of time, unswervingly,
rolls forward.
Before I conclude my speech, I have to emphasize that since the recon- stitution of the Council in 1973, it is not true that we have done nothing. Many fellow Councillors who work according to their conscience did have done something for the benefit of the people. But I am in the full conviction that if the atmosphere in the Council is not so adverse, fellow Councillors can work in full play and there will surely be more and better achievement than the present.
I pray that people will work according to their conscience and the govern- ment will make wiser appraisal of the people's demand so that what I regarded as the Council's 'Dark Age' will end soon.
MR. PETER P. F. CHAN (in English):—Mr. Chairman, with the commence- ment of the nineteen eighties, it is desirable, if not imperative, to seek the views of the central government about the government's policy on the future of the Urban Council and on the interpretation of some of the provisions in the Memorandum of Administrative Arrangements signed in June 1973. In the past years there was more than one occasion that each interpreted the provisions in a different way and some of the differences have not yet been bridged. Personally I think that this exercise is important because, rightly or wrongly, I for one, do have in mind that the central government has been, knowingly or unknowingly, trying to erode the Council's functions and its powers. Allow me to make some observations to justify my thoughts.
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