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that this is a grey area. If Councillors so agree, Mr. CHAN's speech may as well be delivered. But it seems that some Councillors who are present today do not think that it is right to do so. After careful consideration and detailed analysis, I am of the view that Councillors should be present at the meeting in order to exercise their right to vote and right to deliver their speeches as a gesture of respect for the Council. The British Parliament has the same practice. So a Member who is sick would even have himself carried to the meeting venue in order to vote for a vital policy, because without his vote, his party might be defeated by the minorities. Similarly, in the Urban Council there is no system of vote by proxy. To show respect for the Council, Councillors should be present at the meeting. In the past, Councillors were required to be present at Annual Conventional Debates, and those who were not able to finish their speeches due to time constraint might have their speeches recorded in full in the record of proceedings. However, there was no such case before as having a Councillor not attending the meeting may request another Councillor to deliver his speech for him. Although I have the power to establish a precedent for this or even all the Councillors agree to establish a precedent for this, I am of the view that we should think about it twice, because once a precedent is set, eventually it may happen that I will be having only one Councillor at the meeting with me. All other Councillors are absent and they have requested the only Member who attends the meeting to deliver their speeches and have their speeches recorded in the record of proceedings. Although this may be an extreme example, setting such a precedent may lead to an undesirable situation, ie, only a few Councillors will attend the meetings and they will be the proxies for all other Councillors. This is no good. Therefore I suggest to postpone Mr. Chan Choi-hi's speech to the day after tomorrow. If Mr. Chan really wants to deliver his speech, he must attend the meeting himself. Do you agree to this suggestion? Thank you. If there is no argument against my suggestion, then I will so decide. If Mr. Chan Choi-hi does not show up at the meeting on the day after tomorrow, he will lose his right to deliver his speech and his speech will not be recorded in the record of proceedings. Thank you. The meeting will be adjourned until the day after tomorrow.
The Chairman (in Cantonese):-That concludes the business of today.
The Council stands adjourned until Thursday, 16 January 1997, on which day other Members will resume the Debate.
Adjournment: 5.22 p.m.
PRINTED BY THE PRINTING DEPARTMENT, HONG KONG PRINTED ON PAPER MADE FROM WOODPULP DERIVED FROM RENEWABLE FORESTS
1270701-3L-10/97
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that this is a grey area. If Councillors so agree, Mr. CHAN's speech may as well be delivered. But it seems that some Councillors who are present today do not think that it is right to do so. After careful consideration and detailed analysis, I am of the view that Councillors should be present at the meeting in order to exercise their right to vote and right to deliver their speeches as a gesture of respect for the Council. The British Parliament has the same practice. So a Member who is sick would even have himself carried to the meeting venue in order to vote for a vital policy, because without his vote, his party might be defeated by the minorities. Similarly, in the Urban Council there is no system of vote by proxy. To show respect for the Council, Councillors should be present at the meeting. In the past, Councillors were required to be present at Annual Conventional Debates, and those who were not able to finish their speeches due to time constraint might have their speeches recorded in full in the record of proceedings. However, there was no such case before as having a Councillor not attending the meeting may request another Councillor to deliver his speech for him. Although I have the power to establish a precedent for this or even all the Councillors agree to establish a precedent for this, I am of the view that we should think about it twice, because once a precedent is set, eventually it may happen that I will be having only one Councillor at the meeting with me. All other Councillors are absent and they have requested the only Member who attends the meeting to deliver their speeches and have their speeches recorded in the record of proceedings. Although this may be an extreme example, setting such a precedent may lead to an undesirable situation, ie, only a few Councillors will attend the meetings and they will be the proxies for all other Councillors. This is no good. Therefore I suggest to postpone Mr. Chan Choi-hi's speech to the day after tomorrow. If Mr. Chan really wants to deliver his speech, he must attend the meeting himself. Do you agree to this suggestion? Thank you. If there is no argument against my suggestion, then I will so decide. If Mr. Chan Choi-hi does not show up at the meeting on the day after tomorrow, he will lose his right to deliver his speech and his speech will not be recorded in the record of proceedings. Thank you. The meeting will be adjourned until the day after tomorrow.
The Chairman (in Cantonese):-That concludes the business of today.
The Council stands adjourned until Thursday, 16 January 1997, on which day other Members will resume the Debate.
Adjournment: 5.22 p.m.
PRINTED BY THE PRINTING Department, HONG KONG PRINTED ON PAPER MADE FROM WOODPULP DERIVED FROM RENEWABLE FORESTS
1270701-3L-10/97
$198-G43009701 E0
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