MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN

The Hong Kong Democratic Foundation has organised two seminars on Hong Kong's political future.

In May 1991, we sponsored the U.K. Electoral Reform Society's visit to Hong Kong and organised a seminar titled "Democracy & Political Development -- Hong Kong Characteristics". It was more than a year before Chris Patten arrived as the Last Hong Kong Governor in July 1992. Our relationship with the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office was warm. Hong Kong did not know Chris Patten and what would happen to Hong Kong's Government in the last years of British rule.

The second seminar, titled "Government in Evolution" was held on March 1, 1998. Hong Kong is now part of China. The new Hong Kong SAR Chief Executive is Mr Tung Chee-hwa. We know that Mr Tung is a conservative man and a patriot. But nobody knows what exactly will be happen to Hong Kong's Government in the first ten to fifteen years of Chinese rule.

Our first seminar attempted to give answers to electoral arrangements. Our second seminar identified major issues which need to be addressed.

One of the issues discussed in March 1, 1998 seminar was that the Basic Law did not really clarify the relationship between the executive and the legislative branches of Government. Hong Kong's mini-constitution is more like a list of administrative orders than a normal constitution. The lack of a model is a handicap. Even with the smoothest hands and the best of intentions, it would be difficult for Mr Tung to meet the demands of Hong Kong people and keep up Hong Kong's international image as a free society and a good place to channel foreign investments into China.

While many political parties represented in the seminar promised reform to the Basic Law, full direct election of the legislature and even direct election of the Chief Executive by as early as 2002, political science professors are not so sure. In private, some said that we would be lucky to get a few more directly elected seats after 2007; and whether we'll have a directly elected Chief Executive depends on events in China.

What emerged clearly from the seminar was that further democratisation of Hong Kong will require a consensus from the Hong Kong community. And we see no merit in holding back the discussion on Hong Kong's political development. It will take the Hong Kong community a few years to build a "New Political Model". Then it'll take more time to implement this political model. From what was discussed in "Government in Evolution" Seminar, the HKDF will propose a model for discussion and scrutiny by all sectors of the community.

At the HKDF, we see open discussion of public policies as one of the Hong Kong institutions which should be promoted. The editor of a prominent Chinese newspaper (Hong Kong Economic Journal, 4 March 1998) pointed out that the standard of policy formulation in Hong Kong must be improved. Mr Gordon Siu who appeared as HKDF's luncheon speaker on 15 January 1998 also welcomed more think tanks appearing in Hong Kong as more divergent thinking will only help him to come up with better public policies.

Mr Tung is a cautious person. But not unlike Chris Pattern, he also cares about his place in Hong Kong's history. He is well aware that what we do in Hong Kong will have effects on the rest of China and on how the international community looks at China. Mr Tung has four years to set Hong Kong's political evolution into motion.

Alan LUNG, Ka-lun, Chairman