1.
It's our home, our future, our battle and we
must take the banner in our own hands — Now we stand alone
2.
We are at the brink of a new
era. Hongkong politics since January has become a whole new ball game.
3.
The faint hearted will do well
to drop out. Those who stay must be prepared for swift action without a chance
to look back.
4.
Thirteen years will fly past
like a whiff: we cannot afford to drag our feet if we want anything done. But
these 13 years will be a very good time to do things in; for our hands are now
united.
5.
No more the need to compromise
with the establishment and keep silent in the hope of giving peace a chance; no
more the fear that embarrassing one or the other party will bring on
irreplaceable harm.
6.
There is no point now in
holding on to the old order. Freely we go into the dark, to forge from it a new
one.
7.
What unbinds us is the
indubitable fact that Britain has given up the territory.
8.
Before and up to January the
ironic situation was that Britain was the best champion of our free society, to
argue our case so that we will remain outside the communist regime of the PRC.
9.
It made sense then to rally
round the colonial Government, to maintain staunchly in the teeth of
accusations of sycophancy and betrayal of the Chinese race, that it was better
to be a Colony and free than Chinese and under state dictatorship.
10.
After January there is no point
in doing so. As Britain had given up on us, we must give up Britain.
11.
Likewise, before January it
made sense to refrain from saying or doing anything which might antagonise
China.
12.
There was wisdom in the belief
that if we could pretend everything was going well then everything would.
Making it easier for China to prolong the status quo was the right thing to do.
13.
Now we know for sure where we
stand with China. The writing is no longer on the wall but in the files for
record.
14.
Thus we have arrived at a stage
when we have no more champions or protector. We must now take the banner
in our own hands — or all is lost.
15.
The bold motion of Legco that
no plan for the territory be finalised without open debate by the council is a
slightly delayed reaction to this realization.
16.
Last year, the press berated
bitterly and repeatedly the silence of Legco members, the supposed leaders of
our community.
17.
Silence was the price they paid
in consideration for a better chance to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion on
our future at the negotiation table. Must not make trouble for it might
jeopardize that chance.
18.
They co-operated with the
British Government because they sincerely believed co-operation was the best
bet. They may have judged wrongly and acted clumsily, but in the case of
most of the councilors the motivation was undoubtedly unexceptionable.
19.
In the face of the latest
development that silence has not only become pointless, but dangerous.
Every sector is responding with lively interest to the agreement of China
resuming sovereignty in 1997 and thereafter giving Hong Kong a 50-year period
of grace, and everyone is asking how a new leadership may emerge.
20.
For Legco to maintain silence
and a low profile further will be absurd, and that absurdity will cost them
their leadership. They will be left in the cold, and that position will
be intolerable to them.
21.
For the good of Hong Kong Legco
must not become an absurd show of empty gestures. It must gain strength
and transform itself into the democratic body that can really rule the
territory.
22.
This is the least disruptive
and surest way to a strong and stable new leadership, achieved not by the
creation of utopia founded on elaborate theories, but by improving what we have
got.
23.
We do not need a New
Territories Regional Council; we do not need any more intermediate,
purely-administrative bodies that merely enlarge the bureaucracy, take up time
and cause even greater delays.
24.
The time for a mild dosage of
participation without actually going so far as to annoy China or affect
colonial authority has passed.
25.
The people must have real
political power now, in the simplest, most direct way possible.
26.
And we must fight for this
power, for of his own accord the Chief Secretary is not going to give us
democracy if we wait 100 years.
27.
The development of Legco in the
past few years first showed a trend of opening up, gaining confidence and
assuming real importance as a body which scrutinizes Government policies and
the functioning of Government departments.
28.
It has not exactly done the job
with uniform brilliance and efficacy but on the whole it has been moving in the
right direction, until recently.
29.
What has happened within the
past year is the gradual shift of power. The pressure to open up Legco to
elected membership and the Government’s reluctance to do so, resulted in the
compromise of admitting a few elected district board members into the council.
30.
Meanwhile a few outspoken
younger Unofficials were moved up into the Executive Committee.
31.
What this means is that we are
heading for a system of district boards which have little constitutional power
and have failed to gain any in the period following their establishment; a
Legislative Council acquiring on the one hand “safe” grassroots representatives
who have as yet made little impact and on the other, for exactly the reason of
these acquisitions, being made less close to Government decisions; and the Executive
Council which now is everything on its way to being the only thing that really
matters.
32.
Here is demonstrated the
well-known Parkinson ’s Law about where power resides: as lower councils grow
to admit more, power shifts upwards to the next highest conclave. If and when
this conclave grows again, a new higher or upper conclave will be
created.
33.
The Government is now talking
about more participation and possibly holding Legco elections.
34.
Let us beware and remember this
one important fact:
there is no point in having elections if Legco’s power is undermined.
35.
Elections are worthwhile only
if Legco has real power.
36.
For the purpose of running up
to self-government Legco should be more powerful, not less. Indeed it
makes sense to make a reconstituted Legco the heart of our political structure.
37.
A direct link should be formed
between Legco and the district boards which would advise Legco.
38.
The Executive Council, rather
than being above Legco, should be held accountable to it in much the same way
as the cabinet should be accountable to parliament.
39.
I say “should be” because we
must do better than Britain where the cabinet dominates parliament to a large
extent.
40.
And in between — Legco, the
district boards, and Exco-Legco — there should be no imtermediate bodies.
The links must be direct if the system is to be effective.
41.
The bodies whose position will
be anomalous to this system are the Urban Council and the Heung Yee Kuk.
42.
Under the placating philosophy
of the Government they have been kept, though the government hoped to erode
their roles with the district board system.
43.
The Government of course did
not succeed, and will not ever succeed with on the one hand its fear of their
opposition and on the other its reluctance to give anybody real power.
44.
But these bodies must go now as
separate organisations. Their present leaders should take their places in
the new Legco as individuals representing large interest groups. If they have
the backing, let them try to dominate Legco. They will see that this gives
them more power, not less.
45.
The detailed composition of the
new Legco needs careful thinking, but it is difficult to see how appointed
membership can exist there without anomaly.
46.
The continued existence of
official members seemed to be defensible and indeed helpful, but we cannot now
accept a superior authority appointing unofficials.
47.
The only legitimate source of
appointment will be by election.
48.
But there should be no
artificial and indeed no more limitations than absolutely necessary. The
only acceptable criterion for membership is excellence.
49.
If by a process of election we
do not end up with the best people who are willing to serve, well then it
serves us right.
50.
To have one kind of elections
by district, namely for the district boards, is good enough. We need the
best people we have got, and the system must facilitate their surfacing.
51.
Where is our new leadership to
come from? This is the crux of the matter. And we need to answer that
question fast.
52.
I have always had my doubts
about democracy, the election process and claims of representation of the
people.
53.
There is no question that
elections favour every time the diligently self-motivated ambitious more than
the high-minded who are more concerned with serving the public than
manipulating it to elect them.
54.
I dislike the rule of the
majority because the triumphant majority is so apt to disregard the rights of
the minority.
55.
Yet at the end of the day we
have no better choice than democracy. Humanity has not yet invented a
better system, and so we must stick to this.
56.
A year ago, I would have said
that appointed unofficials were a good idea because some people who were
willing to serve and who had something to contribute were not always good at
electioneering or could afford the time or money to campaign.
57.
Now I would say, if you want to
serve the people, go out to the streets and win them. If you do not learn
about power, your ideas are worth very little. If you are not prepared to
stand for elections, then you must be prepared to stay outside the governing body.
The time has come to get tough.
58.
What is the above a blueprint
of? It is a blueprint of self-government for Hong Kong, to be achieved within
the next, short, 13 years.
59.
Even assuming that there is
agreement on that system, there may be a fundamental difference of attitudes as
to how we should aim at governing.
60.
Given that after 1997 China
will assume sovereignty; given that China will then give us the 50-year period
of autonomy or near autonomy; China intends that Hongkong become a part of the
great socialist system in the long run. What will be the aim of the
Government we shall have formed?
61.
Two attitudes are possible:
co-operation and resistance. The co-operative attitude aims at gradually
bringing Hongkong closer to China in terms of government, political ideology,
style of living, cultural life, involvement in Chinese politics, acceptance of
Chinese leadership and the like.
62.
The emphasis of education will
change to promote that aim. More and more people from the mainland will
come to Hongkong to study, work, live and make holiday; more putonghua will
be heard and spoken, more official visits of Chinese leaders, more visible
participation of Chinese investment in the Hongkong market.
63.
The achievement is that we
should hardly feel it when we become socialist rather than capitalist,
nationals of the PRC rather than citizens of Hongkong.
64.
The attitude of resistance
aims, on the contrary, at safeguarding the loss of our identity with the loss
of our liberty.
65.
Its motto will be “no
reunification without autonomy,” and under this motto self-government will
direct itself to strengthen those institutions which safeguards our liberty, by
developing the democratic system of active participation in government, by
removing the obstacles to open criticism and freedom of expression, by
accustoming people to regard these as their rights and by building up a
tradition of political involvement.
66.
Political leaders, no less than
the public, shall have to learn to accept democracy and abide by its rules.
67.
We shall need a strong
leadership supported by a public which is aware of its rights and informed
about Government policies and the way Government operates.
68.
The last thing we need is a
horrendous scramble for power ending in messy confusion or factionism, and the
public blown hither and thither because it does not know what is going on or
what it wants.
69.
The worst is the most likely to
happen, given our present apathy, ignorance and ambivalence, not to mention the
wonderful plans of some of our most senior Government officials.
70.
But we must resist all these
— our own inner reluctance as well as the Government officials.
71.
For, Hongkong is no longer
anybody else's home or anyone else’s battle but our own, and 13 years is a
short time.
72.
We cannot afford to waste even
a minute of it.
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