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and the District Boards. As a Member of the Urban Council and the District Board, I would like to express my views on this review.
With regard to the fully elected Urban Council charged with the 'three violations', the SAR Government has never dared to make a direct review of it, assessing its successes, failures and effectiveness before taking a relevant decision. The SAR Government's attitude of doing everything to please and showing great respect to the Beijing Government has inevitably cast doubt on the commitment to grant Hong Kong people a high degree of autonomy. Before a review is conducted on the restructure of the Municipal Councils or on the merging of the District Boards and the Municipal Councils, we should make a genuine review of our district administration by assessing the effectiveness of the fully elected two-tier councils which have been in operation for over two years in the constitutional history of Hong Kong. If the SAR Government does not review the representativeness of the Councillors but only brings about additions or reductions in the structure and functions of the Councils, it will only, at most, be able to introduce new measures to meet administrative needs. It will not be taking a 'fresh-look at' the Councils. When talking about a 'fresh-look at the Councils', I want to place emphasis on 'Councils'.
As everyone knows, the Municipal Councils, according to the laws of Hong Kong, are statutory bodies responsible for formulating territory-wide policies on urban services, culture, entertainment, recreation and arts. They are vested with concrete powers to monitor the Urban and Regional Services Departments in the implementation of policies. District Boards are statutory advisory bodies for district administration. They carry out consultation, discussion and communication on central government policies which affect various districts. The two-tier councils are markedly different in nature, both in their terms of reference and in their roles. If these councils of different natures are to be abruptly merged just for the sake of merging, it will be ignoring the well-established system in Hong Kong, and will not meet the territory's actual need for political division of labour.
Some people go so far as to advocate the merging of District Boards and Municipal Councils into several municipal councils and practise sectarianism of medium-sized councils. By doing so, these advocates imagine they will be able to gain power in the districts and do whatever they want. In fact, things will run counter to their desire. I remember that in the Council's monthly meeting on 14 October last year, while debating on the motion of ‘setting up an established system to more effectively strengthen the communication and co-operation of the Municipal Councils', most Councillors criticized the Municipal Councils for failing to synchronize their actions in the amendment and enforcement of the legislation and for failing to co-ordinate their activities. If we have several municipal councils in Hong Kong, there will be more chaos and confusion. If municipal councils are executive bodies that will only implement central policies instead of formulating subsidiary legislation like the
Co£654
Page 466 of 654
54
Page 466 of 654
462
HONG KONG PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
and the District Boards. As a Member of the Urban Council and the District Board, I would like to express my views on this review.
With regard to the fully elected Urban Council charged with the 'three violations, the SAR Government has never dared to make a direct review of it, assessing its successes, failures and effectiveness before taking a relevant decision. The SAR Government's attitude of doing everything to please and showing great respect to the Beijing Government has inevitably cast doubt on the commitment to grant Hong Kong people a high degree of autonomy. Before a review is conducted on the restructure of the Municipal Councils or on the merging of the District Boards and the Municipal Councils, we should make a genuine review of our district administration by assessing the effectiveness of the fully elected two-tier councils which have been in operation for over two years in the constitutional history of Hong Kong. If the SAR Government does not review the representativeness of the Councillors but only brings about additions or reductions in the structure and functions of the Councils, it will only, at most, be able to introduce new measures to meet administrative needs. It will not be taking a 'fresh-look at' the Councils. When talking about a 'fresh-look at the Councils, I want to place emphasis on 'Councils'.
As everyone knows, the Municipal Councils, according to the laws of Hong Kong, are statutory bodies responsible for formulating territory-wide policies on urban services, culture, entertainment, recreation and arts. They are vested with concrete powers to monitor the Urban and Regional Services Departments in the implementation of policies. District Boards are statutory advisory bodies for district administration. They carry out consultation, discussion and communication on central government policies which affect various districts. The two-tier councils are markedly different in nature, both in their terms of reference and in their roles. If these councils of different natures are to be abruptly merged just for the sake of merging, it will be ignoring the well-established system in Hong Kong, and will not meet the territory's actual need for political division of labour.
Some people go so far as to advocate the merging of District Boards and Municipal Councils into several municipal councils and practise sectarianism of medium-sized councils. By doing so, these advocates imagine they will be able to gain power in the districts and do whatever they want. In fact, things will run counter to their desire. I remember that in the Council's monthly meeting on 14 October last year, while debating on the motion of ‘setting up an established system to more effectively strengthen the communication and co-operation of the Municipal Councils', most Councillors criticized the Municipal Councils for failing to synchronize their actions in the amendment and enforcement of the legislation and for failing to co-ordinate their activities. If we have several municipal councils in Hong Kong, there will be more chaos and confusion. If municipal councils are executive bodies that will only implement central policies instead of formulating subsidiary legislation like the
Co£654
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