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(5) To encourage joint meetings among residents' organizations of various districts for mutual support and exchange of experiences in the management of multi-storey buildings. The joint meetings can also serve as a fundamental consultative organization for the working party on multi-storey building management under the district boards.

(6) The Vocational Training Council should run a recognized training course on multi-storey building management to gradually promote the management standard of local multi-storey buildings. Intensive or part- time courses should at least be organized as pilot schemes before a regular course is offered.

Further development of representative government

Mr. Chairman, I would like to put forward my opinions on the development of representative government. Firstly, I have to emphasize again that in order to develop a system of government which will meet the long term interests of the people, the following principle should be adhered to:—

"The prosperity, stability and progress of the whole society should be promoted. Gradual and progressive methods should be used to establish an efficient and representative government which is empowered by and directly accountable to the people. In addition, the system of government should be able to continue and develop in the future after Hong Kong becomes the Special Administration Region,'

Based on the above principle, I would like to offer the following recommenda- tions on the further development of representative government in Hong Kong:

(1) Legislative Council members elected by functional constituencies

In the past, I doubted the role played by these members. However, after observing the operation of the Legislative Council in this session, now I agree that it is important to retain the members elected by functional constituencies. To enable the interests of different functional constitu- encies to be represented and to further develop the representative government, the number of these members may be slightly increased in the next term (1988) of the Legislative Council. However, the criteria for classification of functional constituencies should be re-examined carefully. In addition, the present method of election, i.e. the 'one association, one vote' mode adopted by some functional constituencies should be replaced by the 'one man, one vote' method.

(2) Legislative Council members elected by electoral college

I think there is no strong reason and fact to support the increase in the number of members elected by electoral college. On the contrary, these members should only be retained for not more than one term in the Legislative Council.

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(3) Legislative Council members elected by direct election

In considering the introduction of directly elected members to the Legislative Council, we should not only talk about democratic ideal, but should also take into account the stability, prosperity and pace of development of the society as a whole. In addition, we must also consider how direct elections would help lay down a sound foundation for a true self-administration after 1997. Therefore, while a hasty development of the democratic government in Hong Kong is not so desirable, steady progress should be made in this direction.

Mr. Chairman, I firmly believe that the return of not less than one-fifth of the Legislative Council seats by the 'one man, one vote' direct election as from 1988 (administrative district with a population of about 500 000 may be considered as a constituency), meets the principle mentioned above and the practical needs of the society.

MR. FREDERICK K. K. FUNG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, ever since the publication of the White Paper on Representative Government in 1984 by the government, the system of government has been developing towards the target set out in it, that is, to develop progressively a system of representative government which is more directly accountable to the people of Hong Kong and is firmly rooted in Hong Kong. In 1985, the first Legislative Council election with indirectly elected elements was held. Through the electoral college and the functional constituencies, 24 seats were indirectly returned. After joining the Legislative Council, these councillors have worked hard and their performance is here for everyone to see. The most important task for the moment is, based on this foundation, to progressively increase directly elected seats in the legislature so that it can be better able to represent the wishes of the people and the system of representative government can continue to develop in the set direction. For direct election, I mean the one-man-one-vote model and not the 'direct election conducted within different functional constituencies' suggested by some others. According to present development, the most appropriate step is to return about one-fourth of the Legislative Council seats by direct election in 1988.

There are some people in Hong Kong who are truely worried about direct elections, and a few even think it inappropriate to introduce direct elections here. Their opinions may be summed up as follows:-

(a) Direct elections would lead to confrontational politics, formation of parties, and damage to the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong. (b) Direct elections would allow advocates of free lunches who represent the interests of the grass-roots class to gain ground. To please the people, they will promote social welfare. To meet the huge expenditure in this respect, government will have to substantially increase the profits tax against the capitalists. Reduced profits and higher costs will force the capitalists to leave Hong Kong leaving behind closed factories and large unemployment.