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Following is the speech of the Chief Secretary, Mr Henry Tang, at the Joint Business Community Consultative Forum on Methods for Selecting the Chief Executive and for Forming the Legislative Council in 2012 organised by four chambers of commerce and the Real Estate Developers Association at United Centre today (February 2):
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good evening. I am very pleased to have this opportunity to meet with you.
I would like to start off by thanking the five business associations (Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, Federation of Hong Kong Industries, Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong, and Real Estate Development Association of Hong Kong) which have arranged this meeting so that we will have a chance to listen to your views. I would keep my remarks brief because the purpose of today is for me and my colleagues in the government to listen to your views on the 2012 electoral methods for the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council Members. So we are here to listen to your views.
Having come from the business sector, I know for decades the business and the real estate sectors have made significant contribution to our city's evolution. You have also played a crucial role in the political development of Hong Kong. You have always been active, participative, and supportive of democratic development of Hong Kong. I commend you for your continued support in that direction.
We are fully committed to promoting constitutional development in accordance with the Basic Law. We would like to achieve the ultimate goal of universal suffrage by the years 2017 and 2020.
Let me just very briefly recap some of the significant events that happened in the last few years.
Back in October 2005, we introduced a package of proposals for amending the electoral methods for the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council for 2007-2008. These proposals had majority support among the community and among the Legislative Council Members. However, we failed to get the required two-thirds support of all the members of the LegCo when they were put to the vote.
So we were unable to carry the proposals further. It was a disappointing set back that sent us back to the first step of the five-step procedures for amending the Basic Law Annex I and Annex II.
But the Government has continued to make every effort to promote discussions on constitutional reform among the community. This was done through the Commission on Strategic Development between end-2005 and mid-2007.
In July 2007, shortly after its establishment, the third-term Hong Kong SAR Government issued the Green Paper on Constitutional Development. Here, we consulted the public on the models, roadmap and timetable for implementing universal suffrage for the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council elections. In December 2007, the Chief Executive submitted a report to the Standing Committee of the National Peopleˇ¦s Congress, or NPCSC. This report faithfully reflected to the Central Authorities the views received during the three-month public consultation.
The NPCSC responded to the report with a breakthrough. It was a groundbreaking decision. It made clear that the Chief Executive may be returned through universal suffrage election in 2017, and following that all Members of the Legislative Council may also be returned through universal suffrage in 2020.
In addition, this decision stipulates that appropriate amendments conforming to the principle of gradual and orderly progress may be made to the two electoral methods for 2012.
The universal suffrage timetable is a constitutional decision with legal basis and a solemn commitment. It provides a clear direction to take forward our constitutional arrangements towards universal suffrage.
In attaining universal suffrage, the aim of the current-term Government is to further democratise the electoral system for 2012 under the framework set out by the NPCSC decision in December 2007. This will pave the way for implementing universal suffrage for the Chief Executive in 2017 and for the Legislative Council in 2020.
Last November, we published a consultation document on the selection methods and the three-month consultation period will end on February 19.
I would just like to very briefly go through a couple of points that we are proposing for consultation.
For the Chief Executive election, our consultation document proposes enlarging the Election Committee from 800 to not more than 1,200 members. This is in anticipation that many LegCo members' work today is very, very busy and it's more than a full-time job. There need to be more bodies and more people to handle many of the work that evolves the Legislative Council today. Therefore, we are proposing that the Legislative Council increase the number of seats from 60 to 70. For the Chief Executive, in line of balanced participation for Election Committee, we are increasing the number of members of the four sectors by the same proportion ˇV that is, adding 100 members to each sector.
Now the first three sectors we are all quite familiar with. But I would like to just make a point on the fourth sector for a moment. This comprises the Legislative Council, District Councils, Heung Yee Kuk, Hong Kong deputies to the National People's Congress and Hong Kong members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). We are considering that we will allocate most of the additional 100 seats to District Council members, which we believe will enhance the democratic elements of the Election Committee through District Council members who have a public mandate.
We are proposing to maintain the nomination threshold for the CE election at the ratio of one-eighth of the total membership of the Election Committee. That is, there used to be 100 members out of 800 members. It will now become 150 out of 1,200.
Turning to the Legislative Council, I made a brief remark of increasing from 60 to 70 seats. On functional constituencies, we are proposing to allocate to the elected district council members. So for the two elections in 2012, we are injecting two elements into it.
One of them is of course there is now a timetable for universal suffrage which was attained in 2007. That is a major breakthrough from the 2005 proposals.
The other one is we are increasing the number of LegCo seats to be returned through election by District Council members. It would mean the six district council seats altogether would further enhance the democratic elements because the District Council members are elected by about 3.3 to 3.4 million voters.
Close to 60% of the seats in the Legislative Council will then be returned by geographical constituencies through direct or indirect elections.
So what we have put forward in the consultation document does not represent our final view. We are here to listen. We are here to consider views of the community, which is what we are doing here today.
I know our proposal does not please everybody because it is nearly impossible to please all the people all the time. But let me just make a special point and a very special thank you to all the District Council members because District Council members, irrespective of whether they are elected or appointed, actually they spend a lot of time and efforts. For many, they have actually spent effort as well as time in serving the people and serving the people of the district they are in. I have every confidence that they will continue to do so and I thank them for doing it.
We have been debating the issue of constitutional development for many years. The ultimate goal of universal suffrage is now in sight. We understand that people from different sectors of the community may have different ideas about the pace of democratic reform and the model that suits best.
Although there are many different views, what is important for us today is that we have to forge a consensus on how best to take forward under the principle of "gradual and orderly progress". I sense people are getting a bit impatient. They don't want to stand still anymore after 2005. I think it is time for us to consider this proposal in a rational and reasonable way so that we may be able to take forward and pave the way for universal suffrage in the year 2017 and 2020.
With those brief remarks, thank you very much. I would like to hear what you have to say. Thank you.
Ends/Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Issued at HKT 22:40
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