Members' Motions 'Roadmap for universal suffrage’
President, I wish to take this opportunity to talk about my preliminary views on the Consultation Document on the Methods for Selecting the Chief Executive and for Forming the Legislative Council in 2012 (the Consultation Document) published by the Government and give an account of how I will deal with this consultation.
When considering the methods for selecting the Chief Executive and for forming the Legislative Council in 2012, we cannot but take into account the Decision on Issues Relating to the Methods for Selecting the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and for Forming the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in the year 2012 and on Issues Relating to Universal Suffrage (the Decision) made by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) at the end of December 2007. Constitutionally, the Decision is legally binding and it also restricts our scope in making changes in respect of the aforesaid issues. It also mentions that if the number of seats in the Legislative Council is to be increased, the half-and-half ratio between Members returned by FCs and Members returned by GCs through direct elections shall remain unchanged.
First of all, I would like to talk about the method for forming the Legislative Council in 2012. On increasing the number of seats in the Legislative Council, I think there are merits. After serving as a Member in the Legislative Council for one year, I appreciate the fact that the workload of the Legislative Council is very heavy and sometimes, the schedules of various meetings would even clash with one another, so it is not possible to find time for all of them. Increasing the number of seats appropriately can enable more people with aspiration and ability to share the work and would enhance efficiency. In addition, increasing the number of seats is also favourable to the political development in Hong Kong as more people can run in elections and be elected, so that more political talents can be nurtured for Hong Kong.
Regarding what kind of additional FC seats should be introduced, I believe it is not desirable to consider doing so with the existing FC seats or introduce any new seats to represent the interests of some other sectors because this will lead to the situation of "easy to give but difficult to withdraw". As regards the question of to which sectors seats should be allocated, there is also great controversies in society, so it would not be easy to reach an objective and convincing conclusion. Take the medical sector as an example, Chinese medicine practitioners and dentists have both demanded that FC seats be accorded to them. However, in the face of similar demands from other sectors, should we increase the seats for the medical sector? In the event that we really want to increase the seats for the medical sector, should we give the seat to Chinese medicine practitioners or dentists?
The Consultation Document proposes that the five new functional constituency seats be allocated to the DCs and consideration should be given to having all of them elected from among elected DC members. Although this proposal is not very satisfactory, honestly, I cannot think of any other better alternative. Therefore, I will consider it seriously. The merit of this proposal is that elected DC members are accountable to their voters since in the final analysis, they have gone through the baptism of democratic elections. I notice that a lot of different views on this proposal have been expressed in society in the past two weeks. I have paid a lot of attention to these views and will take them into careful consideration. I can say that if there is any other even better proposal during the consultation period, I will surely consider it.
Some people are worried that this proposal will blur the line between the Legislative Council and DCs and think that Legislative Council Members elected by elected DC members from among themselves will be influenced by local interests in their consideration of various issues. I think this concern is justified, but it may not always be the case. As a Legislative Council Member from the Accountancy Functional Constituency, although I am concerned about the issues relating to the development of my sector, in serving in the Legislative Council, most of my energy and time are devoted to handling matters related to Hong Kong as a whole. After joining the Legislative Council, naturally, I have to face issues relating to Hong Kong as a whole. If elected DC members only concern themselves with local interests after joining the Legislative Council, how possibly can they face the next election? Because the public will not approve of these Members and in the legislature, they do not have any future.
Therefore, although I agree that DC members who have been baptized by democratic elections can be candidates or voters in the election, I can by no means agree with letting appointed DC members or other people take part in the election through such a channel.
As for the selection of the Chief Executive in 2012, no matter if the number of members in the EC is 1 200 or 1 600, in fact, none of them can be argued as a magic figure. The most important point is to ensure an appropriate nomination threshold to enable people with aspiration but different political views to take part in the election and to ensure that the election process is open, fair and impartial. Regarding the proposal in the Consultation Document on maintaining the nomination threshold at one-eighth of the total membership of the EC, I believe that although further appropriate relaxation can be considered, the threshold cannot be set too low because ultimately, the selection of the Chief Executive is a solemn election that should not be trivialized.
In the future, I will organize forums on the Consultation Document and invite friends and representatives from various political parties or groups to attend them. Members of the accountancy sector will also share their opinions and views. Since what the Government has published is a Consultation Document and a proposal will be put forward only after the conclusion of the consultation, I will wait until the Government has put forward a specific proposal before consulting my sector on its voting intention, and then vote according to the mainstream view of my sector.
President, as regards FCs, although I agree with abolishing all of them in one go in 2020, I know that on this issue, the views in my sector are highly divergent and there is also a great deal of controversy. For this reason, on this issue of retaining or abolishing seats returned by FCs, I will also fully consult my sector before making a decision according to the mainstream opinion of my sector.
President, I remember that at the beginning of this year, during the motion debate on public consultation on the 2012 constitutional development proposed by Dr Margaret NG, I said that our wrangles over this issue of universal suffrage in the past were attributable to the serious lack of mutual trust between Hong Kong society and the Mainland authorities, thus making any progress in the whole cause difficult. In view of the developments in connection with this issue in the past few months, there is indeed little cause for optimism. I sincerely hope that all of us can achieve a breakthrough, so as to push the constitutional system of Hong Kong forward.
President, I so submit.
