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talking about the Green Paper we need a set of blueprint but a set of blueprint that is flexible, adaptable to changes as we go along. I am glad that Mr. BERNACCHI and also some other members of the House of Lords have mentioned last night, we also ought to recognize the young people of Hong Kong who will have to control their own destiny, certainly they must have a say in the drafting of the Basic Law or in any discussions of political changes. I have also mentioned on September 4th that time is of the essence, therefore, the most direct way of getting to our ultimate political objective is important. We must not take political reforms step by step not knowing where we will be going, 3 or 4 steps down the road. Finally and hopefully, with the signing of the agreement later on this month, the Chinese Government and the Hong Kong Government as well as the Hong Kong people will all see eye to eye on the need to preserve stability in order to have prosperity and I hope that all sides will involve a consultative process, so that we will all reach the political destination that we all treasure up to now, otherwise I am afraid that we are, in fact, stirring up more political uncertainty and therefore might lead to a lot more economic unstability than we have bargained for up to now.
With these words, I certainly support the spirit of this White Paper with its limited objective of looking only one year ahead, but I certainly support the Urban Council's motion to request Government to lay the whole political blueprint squarely and clearly in front of everybody.
(Mr. Lo King-man left at this point—3.38 pm.)
Mr. Lam Chak-PIU (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, fundamentally the White Paper on Representative Government retains all the main proposals in the Green Paper. The major changes are expansion of the functional constituencies and advancement to 1987 of the review of the number of Legislative Council members to be indirectly elected. With regard to the most controversial issue of direct election, the White Paper admits that the bulk of public opinion is in favour of gradually introducing a number of directly elected members and then building up to a significant number of directly elected members by 1997. I am very disappointed that despite the great weight of public opinion, government has not yet fixed the time for the holding of direct elections.
In the present special circumstances of Hong Kong, democratic election is the best way to preserve the continuity of government. With the retreat of the British authorities after 1997, the appointment system cannot operate any more and there will be a vacuum in the political situation which will lead to confusion. If we introduce democratic election now and vest real power in the people of Hong Kong, then even when the British authorities withdraw, the Hong Kong government will continue to operate. Besides, through democratic election, the government obtains its power from the people of Hong Kong and this will have the effect of vesting the power in its people. It is believed that in this way the faithful implementation of 'Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong' will be better guaranteed.
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Direct election will allow full play to the merits of democracy, enhance the legality and representativeness of the government, encourage more people with political talents to stand for election, and promote wider participation by and political consciousness of the people. I shall therefore reiterate my fervent hope that by 1988, one-fifth of the membership of the Legislative Council in Hong Kong should be directly elected.
Election by functional constituencies will no doubt boost the confidence of businessmen, industrialists and the professionals, but it will at the same time give rise to unfairness of distribution of Council seats and some technical problems. What is more, representatives of functional constituencies may be inclined to take up the cause of the constituencies they represent and neglect the interests of the whole community. I hope that election by functional constituencies is only a transition and direct election will be gradually introduced. As a matter of fact, even with direct election, the businessmen, industrialists, and professionals are at an advantage as they have at their disposal far more resources, such as wealth, prestige and social relations, than those in the lower social strata. They therefore stand a much better chance of being elected and we need not worry about their interests.
Finally, I wish to stress that political reforms in Hong Kong should be effected in the spirit of the Sino-British Agreement and in relation to the future Basic Law, otherwise there will be chaos. In this connection, the people of Hong Kong should, apart from making representations to the Hong Kong government, express their views to the Chinese government with regard to the future system of government in Hong Kong. Thus the wishes of the people of Hong Kong may be reflected in the Basic Law which holds sway over the government system in Hong Kong after 1997. In the review of the system of government in 1987, the Hong Kong government should seriously study any reforms necessary, such as the powers of and relations between the Executive and the Legislative Councils, the role of the Governor, and the procedure of appointing the Secretaries, Government Secretariat, always bearing in mind the views of the people.
Sir, I support the motion.
(Mr. Edmund W. H. Chow left at this point—3.42 p.m.)
MR. FREDERICK K. K. FUNG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I have not prepared my speech, so I am going to speak slowly in order to help my simultaneous interpreters. My comments on the White Paper are basically four, first of all, what are the contents of the White Paper, what are the restrictions, what are the advantages and the merits and lastly is recommendation and lack of progress. First of all, on restrictions. the basic restriction is that under our historical transitional period, we are just changing a little of our Government system and this is not consistent with the historical transition, the publication of the Green Paper and the White Paper was before the draft agreement was
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270
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL· 11 December 1984
talking about the Green Paper we need a set of blueprint but a set of blueprint that is flexible, adaptable to changes as we go along. I am glad that Mr. BERNACCHI and also some other members of the House of Lords have mentioned last night, we also ought to recognize the young people of Hong Kong who will have to control their own destiny, certainly they must have a say in the drafting of the Basic Law or in any discussions of political changes. I have also mentioned on September 4th that time is of the essence, therefore, the most direct way of getting to our ultimate political objective is important. We must not take political reforms step by step not knowing where we will be going, 3 or 4 steps down the road. Finally and hopefully, with the signing of the agreement later on this month, the Chinese Government and the Hong Kong Government as well as the Hong Kong people will all see eye to eye on the need to preserve stability in order to have prosperity and I hope that all sides will involve a consultative process, so that we will all reach the political destination that we all treasure up to now, otherwise I am afraid that we are, in fact, stirring up more political uncertainty and therefore might lead to a lot more economic unstability than we have bargained for up to now.
With these words, I certainly support the spirit of this White Paper with its limited objective of looking only one year ahead, but I certainly support the Urban Council's motion to request Government to lay the whole political blueprint squarely and clearly in front of everybody.
(Mr. Lo King-man left at this point—3.38 pmn.)
Mr. Lam Chak-PIU (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, fundamentally the White Paper on Representative Government retains all the main proposals in the Green Paper. The major changes are expansion of the functional constituencies and advancement to 1987 of the review of the number of Legislative Council members to be indirectly elected. With regard to the most controversial issue of direct election, the White Paper admits that the bulk of public opinion is in favour of gradually introducing a number of directly elected members and then building up to a significant number of directly elected members by 1997. I am very disappointed that despite the great weight of public opinion, government has not yet fixed the time for the holding of direct elections.
In the present special circumstances of Hong Kong, democratic election is the best way to preserve the continuity of government. With the retreat of the British authorities after 1997, the appointment system cannot operate any more and there will be a vacuum in the political situation which will lead to confusion. If we introduce deomcratic election now and vest real power in the people of Hong Kong, then even when the British authorities withdraw, the Hong Kong government will continue to operate. Besides, through democratic election, the government obtains its power from the people of Hong Kong and this will have the effect of vesting the power in its people. It is believed that in this way the faithful implementation of 'Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong' will be better guaranteed.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL 11 December 1984
Page 155 of 233
271
Direct election will allow full play to the merits of democracy, enhance the legality and representativeness of the government, encourage more people with political talents to stand for election, and promote wider participation by and political consciousness of the people. I shall therefore reiterate my fervent hope that by 1988, one-fifth of the membership of the Legislative Council in Hong Kong should be directly elected.
Election by functional constituencies will no doubt boost the confidence of businessmen, industrialists and the professionals, but it will at the same time give rise to unfairness of distribution of Council seats and some technical problems. What is more, representatives of functional constituencies may be inclined to take up the cause of the constituencies they represent and neglect the interests of the whole community. I hope that election by functional constituencies is only a transition and direct election will be gradually introduced. As a matter of fact, even with direct election, the businessmen, industrialists, and professionals are at an advantage as they have at their disposal far more resources, such as wealth, prestige and social relations, than those in the lower social strata. They therefore stand a much better chance of being elected and we need not worry about their interests.
Finally, I wish to stress that political reforms in Hong Kong should be effected in the spirit of the Sino-British Agreement and in relation to the future Basic Law, otherwise there will be chaos. In this connection, the people of Hong Kong should, apart from making representations to the Hong Kong government, express their views to the Chinese government with regard to the future system of government in Hong Kong. Thus the wishes of the people of Hong Kong may be reflected in the Basic Law which holds away over the government system in Hong Kong after 1997. In the review of the system of government in 1987, the Hong Kong government should seriously study any reforms necessary, such as the powers of and relations between the Executive and the Legislative Councils, the role of the Governor, and the procedure of appointing the Secretaries, Government Secretariat, always bearing in mind the views of the people.
Sir, I support the motion.
(Mr. Edmund W. H. CHow left at this point—3.42 p.m.)
MR. FREDERICK K. K. FUNG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I have not prepared my speech, so I am going to speak slowly in order to help my simultaneous interpreters. My comments on the White Paper are basically four, first of all, what are the contents of the White Paper, what are the restrictions, what are the advantages and the merits and lastly is recommendation and lack of progress. First of all, on restrictions. the basic restriction is that under our historical transitional period, we are just changing a little of our Government system and this is not consistent with the historical transition, the publication of the Green Paper and the White Paper was before the draft agreement was
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