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The following is issued on behalf of the Executive Council Secretariat:
Following is the transcript (English portion) of a media session by the new Executive Council (ExCo) member, Mr Bernard Chan, at the Central Government Offices today (October 12):
Question: There were fears earlier, may be not fears, that the five votes for the alliance would go towards the pro-democracy camp, in the way that you guys voted for Emily Lau and so forth. But now you guys have been brought back to ExCo, brought into ExCo and brought to a pro-government alliance. Do you think that is deliberate by Mr Tung to grab you guys to influence the pro-democracy alliance.
Bernard Chan: First of all let me make it very clear, I obviously would only say so for myself, but I am pretty sure the other members of the alliance have absolutely no intention of disrupting this Government. I think we vote according to our own conscience, so it is absolutely untrue that we vote deliberately for a so-called opposition party. I have absolutely no idea how my colleagues vote on that particular incident, but I think by and large in most issues we support the Government but that obviously won't bind us for other future controversy. We obviously have our own judgment, accountable to our own constituencies. So obviously I have no idea what Mr Tung's intention is, but I assume that he perhaps would like to engage with all the different voices from the community. In fact part of my contribution would be bringing, apart from the business interest, as well as the welfare interest into the ExCo.
Question: I know that the alliance has the so-called voting discipline. Now that you are with the ExCo, that means that you have to vote for the Government. Will the other five members of the alliance follow you?
Bernard Chan: Well, obviously there is no binding commitment from all members in the alliance; we will obviously try our best efforts to vote together as a bloc. But if there is an issue that has a major impact or major differences with their own constituency, they can always find a waiver among themselves, so there's absolutely not a 100% bloc vote but I think we would try our very best effort to maintain the alliance together.
Question: Will you try your best to persuade them to accept your view as well?
Bernard Chan: Absolutely.
Question: I've heard your election platform in which you say that you are in favour of increased participation of democratic participation in functional constituencies in 2008 and in favour of a fully elected legislature in 2012. I was wondering how you voted for those positions inside ExCo. Would you support any Government action that doesn't conform with those positions and would you consider resigning should the Government propose constitutional development at a slower pace or that is not satisfactory to your point of view.
Bernard Chan: I think by and large we all agree that in the next couple of years, this whole notion of constitutional reform will be probably be one of the most hottest topic in both ExCo and LegCo. I'm in favour of a much wider participation from all sectors of the community, particularly the middle class, because I think the middle class obviously have a much bigger stake in this community. So any forms of increased participation I would favour. Obviously we cannot just simply put a date. I don't think it is practical if we just put forward a date without all the other parts in line. What I mean really is, we have got to get the middle class engagement, we have got to get more people interested in discussing these sorts of political issues and if we get a much wider participation, then we can move faster towards this so-called democratisation. So the two have to go together. I obviously favour any faster on the pace, but it has to work on both sides.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion)
Ends/Tuesday, October 12, 2004
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