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advantageous position that it could employ shameful means in handling the issue concerning the two Councils.
I wish to say a little more. Having said the above, do we still want to retain the status of an Urban Councillor? The Democratic Party has all along been advocating for the creation of a three-tier representative structure by fully direct election. What we propose is merely the retention of a democratic and open system. Our request is that if there is still any municipal council in future, it should be set up by fully direct election. There should not be anymore appointment or indirect election. We ask for a municipal council which is entirely elected by the people.
Just now Mr. Wu Chi-wai asked why Mr. TUNG Chee-hwa had not delegated the power. You can recall that before taking up office, Mr. TUNG paid a visit to Singapore, where he witnessed how LEE Kuan-yew administered the place wisely with the parental style. I have just read an article in a weekly magazine about Chuen Tsz, a Hong Kong caricaturist who applied in vain to hold an exhibition in Singapore of caricatures of those in power. Members might have learned about this too. Hence Mr. TUNG decided to move towards this direction, under which power will not be delegated but will be resumed by the central government and under which he is the one who gives orders. We all consider Mr. TUNG a good guy but as far as his leadership is concerned, there is hardly any room for appreciation. Following the establishment of the HKSAR Government, we all hope that Hong Kong will be ruled by the people of Hong Kong while the Democratic Party hopes that Hong Kong will be ruled by the people of Hong Kong in a democratic way. For Mr. TUNG to rule Hong Kong entirely on his own is hardly what we want.
I also want to talk about Mr. TUNG's recommendation on the way to improve the management of environmental hygiene and food safety, which is merely to set up a new government department under which there is an advisory committee responsible for advising the policy bureau on these two areas. The Democratic Party has put forth the option of 'One Council, One Department', under which there will be a food safety council and some professionals with specific rights to vote, participate and formulate policies, whereas under the option proposed by the Government, there is no public participation. Everyone can see from the new airport incident that no one can tell who should be held responsible. Furthermore, who was the one to be blamed for the financial turmoil or even the avian flu incident? Was it the Urban Council? In the series of mistakes, none of the government officials was held responsible. There used to be the remark that the more an official was criticized, the faster he would be promoted. What kind of government is this? After establishment, the HKSAR Government first demolished the through-train, then abolished the elected LegCo and the two Municipal Councils, set up various provisional representative institutions and eventually re-introduced appointed seats. It is not that I have any strong views against appointed members. I am only talking about the system. Retrogression in
Page 259 of 606
06
Page 259 of 606
254
PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
advantageous position that it could employ shameful means in handling the issue concerning the two Councils.
I wish to say a little more. Having said the above, do we still want to retain the status of an Urban Councillor? The Democratic Party has all along been advocating for the creation of a three-tier representative structure by fully direct election. What we propose is merely the retention of a democratic and open system. Our request is that if there is still any municipal council in future, it should be set up by fully direct election. There should not be anymore appointment or indirect election. We ask for a municipal council which is entirely elected by the people.
Just now Mr. Wu Chi-wai asked why Mr. TUNG Chee-hwa had not delegated the power. You can recall that before taking up office, Mr. TUNG paid a visit to Singapore, where he witnessed how LEE Kuan-yew administered the place wisely with the parental style. I have just read an article in a weekly magazine about Chuen Tsz, a Hong Kong caricaturist who applied in vain to hold an exhibition in Singapore of caricatures of those in power. Members might have learned about this too. Hence Mr. TUNG decided to move towards this direction, under which power will not be delegated but will be resumed by the central government and under which he is the one who gives orders. We all consider Mr. TUNG a good guy but as far as his leadership is concerned, there is hardly any room for appreciation. Following the establishment of the HKSAR Government, we all hope that Hong Kong will be ruled by the people of Hong Kong while the Democratic Party hopes that Hong Kong will be ruled by the people of Hong Kong in a democratic way. For Mr. TUNG 10 rule Hong Kong entirely on his own is hardly what we want.
I also want to talk about Mr. TUNG's recommendation on the way to improve the management of environmental hygiene and food safety, which is merely to set up a new government department under which there is an advisory committee responsible for advising the policy bureau on these two areas. The Democratic Party has put forth the option of 'One Council, One Department', under which there will be a food safety council and some professionals with specific rights to vote, participate and formulate policies, whereas under the option proposed by the Government, there is no public participation. Everyone can see from the new airport incident that no one can tell who should be held responsible. Furthermore, who was the one to be blamed for the financial turmoil or even the avian flu incident? Was it the Urban Council? In the series of mistakes, none of the government officials was held responsible. There used to be the remark that the more an official was criticized, the faster he would be promoted. What kind of government is this? After establishment, the HKSAR Government first demolished the through- train, then abolished the elected LegCo and the two Municipal Councils, set up various provisional representative institutions and eventually re-introduced appointed seats. It is not that I have any strong views against appointed members. I am only talking about the system. Retrogression in
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