1996 — Page 377

Urban Council Proceedings 市政局議事錄 All AI Reviewed

Page 377 of 498

HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

421

From the remarks of a Member that the democratic election participated by millions of people turned out to be an election susceptible to manipulation. If this is really the case, no wonder different voices from the society point out that the election of the Provisional Legislature by 400 people must have been subject to the manipulation by some party. Given that this election pattern is designed by the Chinese Government, it is even more obvious that the election is manipulated by the Chinese Government. As elected members, all of us here are, in my opinion, backed up by thousands and thousands of votes and supported by thousands and thousands of voters. We must therefore respect the right and wisdom of choice of the voters and should not reverse the track of our democratic process by saying that an election participated by millions of people has been subject to manipulation. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

"THE HON SZETO WAH (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, firstly, I would like to quote a few words from my speech at last year's Annual Conventional Debate. I said:

‘An official of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office recently told the Regional Council's delegation to Beijing that the Councils of the lower two tiers could take the through train, but 25% appointed seats would be added. Mr. DENG Xiaoping once said that only a few people's remarks on the Hong Kong issue would count while those made by others were all codswallop. The above-said official is not one of the few "people" mentioned by Mr. Deng, nor is he the successor of any of those few "people". Is his remark codswallop then?.... What is the Chinese government up to then? In fact, the formation of the future municipal councils has to go through legislative procedure. Now somebody seems to have made a decision before going through such procedures. Whither has the spirit of "rule by law" gone?"

Now we can see that the message from this official is absolutely valid, it is not codswallop at all. Not very long ago, one of the candidates running for the Chief Executive Election, Mr. Woo Kwong-ching stated in black and white in his platform that 25% appointed seats had to be added to the 2 Municipal Councils and the District Boards. Another candidate, Mr. TUNG Chee-hwa, who was later being elected, also expressed the same view in his reply to an inquiry. Have Mr. Woo and Mr. TUNG established a form of mental communication with each other? Are Mr. Woo, Mr. TUNG and the officials of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office all great minds that they think alike? No. It is just that they are each equipped with an antenna which receives the same message. This is a good example to illustrate what 'one country, two systems' and 'a high degree of autonomy' actually mean and what exactly is 'putting oneself in the commanding position'.

Urban Council has a long history of election. However, it was not until 1995 that we had all the seats filled by elected Members. Even so, not all Urban Councillors were directly elected, some seats were filled by indirect selection. Such development was really snail-slow, yet now some people propose to

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Page 377 of 498 HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL 421 From the remarks of a Member that the democratic election participated by millions of people turned out to be an election susceptible to manipulation. If this is really the case, no wonder different voices from the society point out that the election of the Provisional Legislature by 400 people must have been subject to the manipulation by some party. Given that this election pattern is designed by the Chinese Government, it is even more obvious that the election is manipulated by the Chinese Government. As elected members, all of us here are, in my opinion, backed up by thousands and thousands of votes and supported by thousands and thousands of voters. We must therefore respect the right and wisdom of choice of the voters and should not reverse the track of our democratic process by saying that an election participated by millions of people has been subject to manipulation. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. "THE HON SZETO WAH (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, firstly, I would like to quote a few words from my speech at last year's Annual Conventional Debate. I said: ‘An official of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office recently told the Regional Council's delegation to Beijing that the Councils of the lower two tiers could take the through train, but 25% appointed seats would be added. Mr. DENG Xiaoping once said that only a few people's remarks on the Hong Kong issue would count while those made by others were all codswallop. The above-said official is not one of the few "people" mentioned by Mr. Deng, nor is he the successor of any of those few "people". Is his remark codswallop then?.... What is the Chinese government up to then? In fact, the formation of the future municipal councils has to go through legislative procedure. Now somebody seems to have made a decision before going through such procedures. Whither has the spirit of "rule by law" gone?" Now we can see that the message from this official is absolutely valid, it is not codswallop at all. Not very long ago, one of the candidates running for the Chief Executive Election, Mr. Woo Kwong-ching stated in black and white in his platform that 25% appointed seats had to be added to the 2 Municipal Councils and the District Boards. Another candidate, Mr. TUNG Chee-hwa, who was later being elected, also expressed the same view in his reply to an inquiry. Have Mr. Woo and Mr. TUNG established a form of mental communication with each other? Are Mr. Woo, Mr. TUNG and the officials of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office all great minds that they think alike? No. It is just that they are each equipped with an antenna which receives the same message. This is a good example to illustrate what 'one country, two systems' and 'a high degree of autonomy' actually mean and what exactly is 'putting oneself in the commanding position'. Urban Council has a long history of election. However, it was not until 1995 that we had all the seats filled by elected Members. Even so, not all Urban Councillors were directly elected, some seats were filled by indirect selection. Such development was really snail-slow, yet now some people propose to Page 377 of 108. Page 377 of 498 Page 377 of 498

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Page 377 of 498 HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL 421 From the remarks of a Member that the democratic election participated by millions of people turned out to be an clection susceptible to manipulation. If this is really the case, no wonder different voices from the society point out that the election of the Provisional Legislature by 400 people must have been subject to the manipulation by some party. Given that this election pattern is alesigned by the Chinese Government, it is even more obvious that the election iis manipulated by the Chinese Government. As elected members, all of us here are, in my opinion, backed up by thousands and thousands of votes and supported by thousands and thousands of voters. We must therefore respect the right and wisdom of choice of the voters and should not reverse the track of our democratic process by saying that an election participated by millions of people has been subject to manipulation. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. "THE HON SZETO WAH (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, firstly, I would like to quote a few words from my speech at last year's Annual Conventional Debate. I said: ‘An official of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office recently told the Regional Council's delegation to Bejing that the Councils of the lower two tiers could take the through train, but 25% appointed seats would be added. Mr. DENG Xiaoping once said that only a few people's remarks on the Hong Kong issue would count while those made by others were all codswallop. The above-said official is not one of the few "people" mentioned by Mr. Deng, nor is he the successor of any of those few "people". Is his remark codswallop then?.... What is the Chinese government up to then? In fact, the formation of the future municipal councils has to go through legislative procedure. Now somebody seems to have made a decision before going through such procedures. Whither has the spirit of "rule by law" gone?" Now we can see that the message from this official is absolutely valid, it is not codswallop at all. Not very long ago, one of the candidates running for the Chief Executive Election, Mr. Woo Kwong-ching stated in black and white in his platform that 25% appointed seats had to be added to the 2 Municipal Councils and the District Boards. Another candidate, Mr. TUNG Chee-hwa, who was later being elected, also expressed the same view in his reply to an inquiry. Have Mr. Woo and Mr. TUNG established a form of mental communication with each other? Are Mr. Woo, Mr. TUNG and the officials of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office all great minds that they think alike? No. It is just that they are each equipped with an antenna which receives the same message. This is a good example to illustrate what one country, two systems' and 'a high degree of autonomy' actually mean and what exactly is 'putting oneself in the commanding position'. Urban Council has a long history of election. However, it was not until 1995 that we had all the seats filled by elected Members. Even so, not all Urban Councillors were directly elected, some seats were filled by indirect selection. Such development was really snail-slow, yet now some people propose to Page 377 of 108. Page 377 of 498 Page 377 of 498

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Page 377 of 498

HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

421

From the remarks of a Member that the democratic election participated by millions of people turned out to be an clection susceptible to manipulation. If this is really the case, no wonder different voices from the society point out that the election of the Provisional Legislature by 400 people must have been subject to the manipulation by some party. Given that this election pattern is alesigned by the Chinese Government, it is even more obvious that the election iis manipulated by the Chinese Government. As elected members, all of us here are, in my opinion, backed up by thousands and thousands of votes and supported by thousands and thousands of voters. We must therefore respect the right and wisdom of choice of the voters and should not reverse the track of our democratic process by saying that an election participated by millions of people has been subject to manipulation. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

"THE HON SZETO WAH (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, firstly, I would like to quote a few words from my speech at last year's Annual Conventional Debate. I said:

‘An official of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office recently told the Regional Council's delegation to Bejing that the Councils of the lower two tiers could take the through train, but 25% appointed seats would be added. Mr. DENG Xiaoping once said that only a few people's remarks on the Hong Kong issue would count while those made by others were all codswallop. The above-said official is not one of the few "people" mentioned by Mr. Deng, nor is he the successor of any of those few "people". Is his remark codswallop then?.... What is the Chinese government up to then? In fact, the formation of the future municipal councils has to go through legislative procedure. Now somebody seems to have made a decision before going through such procedures. Whither has the spirit of "rule by law" gone?"

Now we can see that the message from this official is absolutely valid, it is not codswallop at all. Not very long ago, one of the candidates running for the Chief Executive Election, Mr. Woo Kwong-ching stated in black and white in his platform that 25% appointed seats had to be added to the 2 Municipal Councils and the District Boards. Another candidate, Mr. TUNG Chee-hwa, who was later being elected, also expressed the same view in his reply to an inquiry. Have Mr. Woo and Mr. TUNG established a form of mental communication with each other? Are Mr. Woo, Mr. TUNG and the officials of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office all great minds that they think alike? No. It is just that they are each equipped with an antenna which receives the same message. This is a good example to illustrate what one country, two systems' and 'a high degree of autonomy' actually mean and what exactly is 'putting oneself in the commanding position'.

1996 — Page 377

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