Page 167 of 185
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. L. H. KWAN (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I cannot accept the views in the White Paper. When we look at the contents of the White Paper, we can see that it is still adhering to the British Patriarchal System of Government. The Central Government is a conservative parent. Under this parent, there are a number of children including the Legislative Council, the Municipal Councils and also the District Boards. Under this particular system of Government, a number of toys will be shared among these children. Firstly, direct election is introduced in Legco in 1991. Since direct election is introduced, the system of sending district board members to the Legislative Council will be taken away. In order to compensate the District Boards' loss, they can send their members to the Urban Council. As regards the Urban Council, ex-officio membership in district boards will be taken away in 1989 but we can maintain our seat in the Legislative Council in 1991. This strange phenomenon is merely a result of the Government's shift or allocation of the toys among their children. There are two very strange things. Firstly, if the Central Government think that it is not desirable to have members of the Legislative Council returned from District Boards, why should it introduce the system in Urban Council? Since the system of indirect election is not good, why should the Government do it in the Urban Council? Secondly, if we agree that returning members to another Council is not a good thing, why Members of UC can elect amongst their Members to the Legislative Council. I am not in favour of this patriarchal form of Government. I think the best answer should be the introduction of direct election. If the Government think that the Urban Council is not doing good enough, it can increase the number of elected members because they are always better than indirectly elected members. Lastly, I doubt the sincerity of the Central Government in making change in the political system. Since the White Paper has been released, I will take concrete action in a year time by consulting local residents. If there is a chance in the forthcoming Urban Council Election, I will ask the citizen to vote for me. If they think that I am not suitable then perhaps they can vote for the district board members to the Urban Council. Mr. Chairman, I support your motion.
(Miss Cecilia L. Y. YEUNG arrived at 3.05 p.m.)
MR. JOSEPH Y. S. CHAN (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, my views on the future development of representative government are as follows:
(1) The District Boards
It is sensible to strengthen the advisory role of District Boards and not to change its functions because Hong Kong is such a small area and it is inappropriate to set up too many local boards and authorities that can formulate policies, because this will lead to the wastage of resources on the one hand and the inconsistency of policies on the other. As a result, our people will not know what course to take.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
325
Paragraph 49 points out that more resources will be provided to District Boards for local environmental improvement and community activities. In this regard, we have to take extra care to avoid an overlap between the work of the Boards and the Municipal Councils. At the same time, the District Boards should not go beyond their jurisdiction and should make good use of the resources to cater for district needs.
Paragraph 50 states that the ratio between elected and appointed members will remain 2:1. At present, we can see that most appointed members are very active in running their election campaigns. In order to go forward in the direction of democracy, it is therefore appropriate to phase out appointed members so that all DB members at the base will become elected ones.
(2) The Urban Council
Though many people think that the role and composition of the Urban Council should remain unchanged, DB members have expressed their strong interest in and aspiration for direct participation in the work of the Urban Council. In fact, most of the appointed members in the Urban Council think that it is a great burden for them to be ex-officio DB members. Now that the White Paper stipulates that Urban Councillors will cease to join the District Boards, it seems that they are relieved of a heavy load. However, it will undoubtedly be a serious blow to the elected members who are elected within the district. They will be deprived of the opportunity to speak on and participate in district affairs as their relation with the District Boards is cut off.
As the Government has already announced the proposal to remove Urban Councillors' ex-officio seats from the District Boards last December, the link between the Urban Council and District Boards cannot be left unbridged. This could be remedied if the link was to be provided by DB members sitting on the Urban Council. Regarding the link between such Boards and Councils, most of the advanced democratic countries in the world adopt a system that allows members of the lower tier to join the next higher one. Therefore, allowing DB members to sit on the Urban Council is not a retrograde step in the development of democracy. In fact, the increase of 10 directly elected members in the Urban Council is a step forward in the development of a democratic government.
The link between the three-tier structure has also been further adjusted by having each tier represented at the next higher level. In 1991, there will be directly elected seats for district-based constituencies, instead of the existing system which has the seats filled by indirect elections from the District Boards. It is also proposed that the Urban and Regional Councils will continue to elect a member each to the Legislative Council. The links between the three-tier structure is thus made more clear by specifying the progressive nature of the tiers. I think that this system is better than the existing one.
However, I am greatly dissatisfied with the Government's administrative procedure in announcing the Urban Council part of the content of the White Paper.
Page 168 of 185
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326
Page 167 of 185
||
324
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. L. H. KWAN (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I cannot accept the views in the White Paper. When we look at the contents of the White Paper, we can sce that it is still adhering to the British Patriarchal System of Government. The Central Government is a conservative parent. Under this parent, there are a number of children including the Legislative Council, the Municipal Councils and also the District Boards. Under this particular system of Government, a number of toys will be shared among these children. Firstly, direct election is introduced in Legco in 1991. Since direct election is introduced, the system of sending district board members to the Legislative Council will be taken away. In order to compensate the District Boards' loss, they can send their members to the Urban Council. As regards the Urban Council, ex-officio membership in district boards will be taken away in 1989 but we can maintain our seat in the Legislative Council in 1991. This strange phenomenon is merely a result of the Government's shift or allocation of the toys among their children. There are two very strange things. Firstly, if the Central Government think that it is not desirable to have members of the Legislative Council returned from District Boards, why should it introduce the system in Urban Council? Since the system of indirect election is not good, why should the Government do it in the Urban Council? Secondly, if we agree that returning members to another Council is not a good thing, why Members of UC can elect amongst their Members to the Legislative Council. I am not in favour of this patriarchal form of Government. I think the best answer should be the introduction of direct election. If the Government think that the Urban Council is not doing good enough, it can increase the number of elected members because they are always better than indirectly elected members. Lastly, I doubt the sincerity of the Central Govern- ment in making change in the political system. Since the White Paper has been released, I will take concrete action in a year time by consulting local resident. If there is a chance in the forthcoming Urban Council Election, I will ask the citizen to vote for me. If they think that I am not suitable then perhaps they can vote for the district board members to the Urban Council. Mr. Chairman, I support your motion.
(Miss Cecilia L. Y. YEUNG arrived at 3.05 p.m.)
MR. JOSEPH Y. S. CHAN (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, my views on the future development of representative government are as follows:
(1) The District Boards
It is sensible to strengthen the advisory role of District Boards and not to change its functions because Hong Kong is such a small area and it is inappropriate to set up too many local boards and authorities that can formulate policies, because this will lead to the wastage of resources on the one hand and the inconsistency of policies on the other. As a result, our people will not know what course to take.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
325
Paragraph 49 points out that more resources will be provided to District Boards for local environmental improvement and community activities. In this regard, we have to take extra care to avoid an overlap between the work of the Boards and the Municipal Councils. At the same time, the District Boards should not go beyond their jurisdiction and should make good use of the resources to cater for district needs.
Paragraph 50 states that the ratio between elected and appointed members will remain 2:1. At present, we can see that most appointed members are very active in running their election campaigns. In order to go forward in the direction of democracy, it is therefore appropriate to phase out appointed members so that all DB members at the base will become elected ones.
(2) The Urban Council
Though many people think that the role and composition of the Urban Council should remain unchanged, DB members have expressed their strong interest in and aspiration for direct participation in the work of the Urban Council. In fact, most of the appointed members in the Urban Council think that it is a great burden for them to be ex-officio DB members. Now that the White Paper stipulates that Urban Councillors will cease to join the District Boards, it seems that they are relieved of a heavy load. However, it will undoubtedly be a serious blow to the elected members who are elected within the district. They will be deprived of the opportunity to speak on and participate in district affairs as their relation with the District Boards is cut off.
As the Government has already announced the proposal to remove Urban Councillors' ex-officio seats from the District Boards last December, the link between the Urban Council and District Boards cannot be left unbridged. This could be remedied if the link was to be provided by DB members sitting on the Urban Council. Regarding the link between such Boards and Councils, most of the advanced democratic countries in the world adopt a system that allows members of the lower tier to join the next higher one. Therefore, allowing DB members to sit on the Urban Council is not a retrograde step in the development of democracy. In fact, the increase of 10 directly elected members in the Urban Council is a step forward in the development of a democratic government.
The link between the three-tier structure has also been further adjusted by having each tier represented at the next higher level. In 1991, there will be directly elected seats for district-based constituencies, instead of the existing system which has the seats filled by indirect elections from the District Boards. It is also proposed that the Urban and Regional Councils will continue to elect a member each to the Legislative Council. The links between the three-tier structure is thus made more clear by specifying the progressive nature of the tiers. I think that this system is better than the existing one.
However, I am greatly dissatisfied with the Government's administrative procedure in announcing the Urban Council part of the content of the White
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