CO_1030_1459_HONG_KONG_CONSTITUTIONAL_DEVELOPMENT_1963_1965 — Page 105

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affairs.

I

It wants Hong Kong to remain a British Colony, under the protec-

tive wing of Britain, with the British Government handling its foreign

It does, however, wish to see stage 1 implemented immediately,

with the implementation of stages 2 and 3 to follow in the foreseeable

future. The creation of an elected minority in the legislative body is

a traditional aspect of British colonial policy. Out of the twenty-four

British Colonies that remained at the end of last year, Hong Kong, the

largest in terms of population, is perhaps the only one, I regret the

only one, without some form of elective representation in the legislative

body. Why is this? It cannot be because of economic inviability. Hong

Kong is financially by far the strongest of all the British Colonies.

should say that its national budget is greater than the combined budgets

of all the other British Colonies lumped together. Then why has it les8

say in its affairs than Fiji or British Guiana or Southern Rhodesia?

failure of the new Labour Government to grant the people of Hong Kong any

democratic representation in the legislature can only arise from the fear

of a Kuomingtang or Communist take-over of the legislative process. Such

a fear can be discounted in a community where the proportion of locally-borr

adult residents, for whom Hong Kong is their only home, is increasing year

by year.

And in any case, there would be an adequate safeguard against

such a take-over in the type of Legislative Council advocated by our Party,

a council where to start with, the elected members would be in the minority,

so that the basis of power would still lie with the majority of official

and sustainated members.

The

The Labour Party demands that the unofficial seats on the Legis-

lative Council become elective, and that the incumbents of these seats be

elected on a ward system based on a widened franchise. The franchise

advocated by the Labour Party is clearly set forth in our manifesto: the

franchise, or the right to vote, should be made available to every Hong Kon

resident over twenty-one years of age who has lived here, in the case of

aliens, for five years; and in the case of Commonwealth citizens, for one Page 105 of 344

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