1987 — Page 163

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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

CHAIRMAN (in English):—Ladies and Gentlemen, the Council is now called to order.

MOTION

1. THE CHAIRMAN, URBAN COUNCIL moved the following motion:—

'RESOLVED that this Council notes the contents of the White Paper: The Development of Representative Government: The Way Forward.'

He said (in English):-I rise to move the motion standing in my name:

'RESOLVED that this Council notes the contents of the White Paper: The Development of Representative Government: The Way Forward.'

The objective of this special meeting of the Council is to give all Councillors an early opportunity to react to the White Paper and its likely effect on the workings of this Council and to comment on changes to the constitutional scene envisaged for 1991.

The first Chapter of the White Paper is historical and needs no further

comment.

I agree, however, with paragraph 17 that the 3-tier structure is well suited to Hong Kong's requirements. Also that each tier of Government should have clear, reasonable and well-defined roles, which do not overlap and in which all should co-operate, is a reasonable premise. Those sitting on each of the Government tiers should be in touch with the public.

As to Chapter III-Direct Elections to the Legislative Council, the White Paper's focus on stability is to be commended. Unless we have a stable society, there can be no prosperity for anyone.

The Government has decided to introduce a number of directly elected members on Legislative Council in 1991 and certainly the proposal to replace the 10 members indirectly elected from the District Boards by 10 directly elected members appears to be logical. But could have been introduced earlier, say in 1989. It would be a bit procural with which the Urban Council would entirely agree.

My comment on the proposals in Chapter IV concerning official members is that we have managed in the Urban Council without any official members for some 15 years and this has worked very well. The senior departmental officers, on the other hand, have been able to make the official position known to members and frequently this is done in no uncertain terms. In all our select committees, the Director of Urban Services and officers dealing with their particular schedules are there to give opinions, answer questions. The fact that they are not members of the Urban Council has, I think in many ways,

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enhanced their influence on policy decisions made by the Council. Perhaps during the evolutionary process, Government might consider looking at some- thing similar to our select committee system for the Legislative Council.

Regarding this Council electing a member to the Legislative Council, I strongly support the proposal to retain this and consider that the same applies to the Regional Council. However, I am told that the rather confused transla- tion into Chinese in paragraph 54 implies that this Council should return two members to the Legislative Council. Not a bad idea at that!

With the proposal to elect 10 members to the Council from the 10 urban District Boards, our worst fears have of course been realized. This is to be introduced despite our strong representations to Government regarding the almost inevitable disruption to the work of the Urban Council. A tug-of-war between the various District Boards for parallel facilities is inevitable, regardless of overall needs and cost to the public purse.

However unpalatable, we will have to live with it. It will be expensive both in the need to provide physical facilities for a larger Council and almost inevitable the necessity to provide unnecessary facilities for various districts to quicten their profligate demands.

These potential problems have been highlighted to the Administration and we will look to the Government for the financial and other support necessary to implement this decision.

This Council is nevertheless a vigorous, sensible and pragmatic body and no doubt we shall learn to live with the situation. Urban Councillors have over the years done their best to make this a stable and prosperous community and we will continue to work towards that end.

MRS. ELSIE TU (in English):—Mr. Chairman, I rise to second your Motion.

I have a little sympathy with Government officials and their appointees because they have served the colonial system so well that they cannot express themselves logically on the subject of democracy. While insisting that they are accepting public opinion they keep letting the cat out of the bag with expressions such as 'The Government has concluded . . ." "The Government has decided...', and 'The Government believes. . .' (as found in Chapter 3 of the Paper).

I am left wondering what is this faceless being that calls itself 'the Govern- ment"? Does the expression mean the official members of the Executive Council, or does it include those superior beings who gained seats on that Council by always saying 'Aye? Most of them (officials and unofficials) are political greenhorns with inflated opinions about their own importance.

It is quite clear that the main decisions in the White Paper were made before the Green Paper was printed. The consultations were merely a public relations