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Seminar on Constitutional Development
(24 May 2004)
Group Discussion Summaries
Green Group: Mr. Lee Luen-fai
(Translation)
Method for Selecting the Chief Executive
The Number of Members of the Election Committee
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The majority of participants would like to see an increase in the size of the Election Committee.
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A prevailing view among participants was that without an in-depth understanding of the operation of the political system as a whole, and without study and research, they could not possibly put forward any specific proposals right now. The implications of increasing the number of Election Committee members by one hundred or one thousand was not understood. Any
suggestion on numbers would be arbitrary.
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It was hoped that in future the Government would provide more information in this regard so as to facilitate in-depth discussions among the general public or those who were interested in the subject.
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Some other options were suggested. One suggested that increasing the number by 200 every year or every term would suffice.
Others
Method for Forming the Legislative Council
The Number of Seats Returned by Functional Constituencies
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An opinion expressed was that serving Legislative Council Members were burdened with heavy workload as they had to take part in many committees. Thus, many participants would like to see an increase in the number of functional constituency seats.
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However, some took the view that functional constituencies represented the interests of their respective functional bodies only. A participant thought that if we were moving towards universal suffrage and democracy, expanding the functional constituencies now might create an obstacle for the future.
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Whether for or against increasing functional constituency seats, participants were all looking forward to democratization, meaning that there should be more public participation in the Legislative Council. The functional constituencies should therefore be expanded.
The Delineation and Size of the Electorate of Functional Constituencies
Others
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A participant said that traditionally, Chinese leaders were elected or selected through two means: they either put themselves forward or were invited by "admirers" to take up the leadership. Noting that at present Hong Kong did not have a system featuring the "invitation" approach, he proposed that some Legislative Council seats be reserved for such purpose.
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A participant said that as incumbent Legislative Council Members were not serving on a full time basis, the amount of working hours that they devoted to the Council was insufficient. In view of this, some participants proposed that a full-time Member system should be developed so that Members could devote themselves full-time to the work of the Legislative Council.
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A participant was concerned that given the budget deficit, the Government might not be able to afford the expenditure if the number of seats were increased to 100.
Other Views
Universal Suffrage
Development of Political Parties
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A participant opined that there should be more room for the development of political parties in Hong Kong. Allowing the Chief Executive to be a political party member would help strengthen his governance and authority. Without the support of political parties, the government had no support in the Legislative Council, and this made it difficult for the government to
operate.
Advisory Bodies
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A participant noted that the Government now had more than 400 advisory bodies. These bodies should be allowed to perform more functions in the political system, for example, by participating in the selection of the Chief Executive.
(Please refer to the video recording for the floor speech.)
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