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Minutes of the 21st Meeting of the Southern District Council (SDC) (2012-2015) Date : 19 March 2015 Time : 2:30 p.m. Venue : SDC Conference Room Present: Mr CHU Ching-hong, JP (Chairman) Mr CHAN Fu-ming, MH (Vice-Chairman) Mr AU Lap-sing, MH Mr AU Nok-hin Mr CHAI Man-hon Ms CHAN Judy Kapui Mrs CHAN LEE Pui-ying Ms CHEUNG Sik-yung Mr CHU Lap-wai Mr FUNG Se-goun, Fergus Mr LAM Kai-fai, MH Ms LAM Yuk-chun, MH Dr LIU Hong-fai, Dandy, JP Mr LO Kin-hei Mrs MAK TSE How-ling, Ada Mr TSUI Yuen-wa Mr WONG Ling-sun, Vincent Dr YANG Mo, PhD Mr YEUNG Wai-foon, MH, JP Mr Paul ZIMMERMAN Secretary: Ms YIP Wai-see, Priscilla Senior Executive Officer (District Council), Southern District Office, Home Affairs Department 1 In Attendance: Mr CHOW Chor-tim, JP District Officer (Southern), Home Affairs Department Mr YEUNG Pok-man, Michael Assistant District Officer (Southern), Home Affairs Department Mr CHAN Ip-to, Tony Senior Executive Officer (District Management), Southern District Office, Home Affairs Department Ms LO Mun-wah, Cindy Senior Liaison Officer (1), Southern District Office, Home Affairs Department Miss CHOW Suk-yee, Jessica Senior Liaison Officer (2), Southern District Office, Home Affairs Department Mr LEE Kan-fat District Environmental Hygiene Superintendent (Southern), Food and Environmental Hygiene Department Mr CHAIONG David, Stanley Chief Leisure Manager (Hong Kong West), Leisure and Cultural Services Department Mr WONG Yuet-chung Senior Housing Manager/KWH3, Housing Department Mr Nelson CHAN Cheif Transport Officer/Hong Kong, Transport Department Mr Wise CHOY District Commander (Western), Hong Kong Police Force Mr Billy CHING Police Community Relations Officer (Western), Hong Kong Police Force Mr LAU Kong-wah Under Secretary for Constitutional and for agenda Mainland Affairs item 1 Miss YIU Yuk, Isabel Senior Town Planner/HK 1, for agenda item 2 Dr LUK Che-chung Cluster Chief Executive, Hong Kong West Cluster, Hospital Authority Dr Sidney TAM Deputy Hospital Chief Executive I, Queen Mary Hospital Ms Winnie YIP Cluster General Manager (Administrative Services), Hong Kong West Cluster, Hospital Authority for agenda Ms Pinky MAK Senior Hospital Manager (Planning & item 6 Commissioning), Queen Mary Hospital Mr K L TAM Director of Estates Office, the University of Hong Kong Mr Eddie YIU Assistant Director of Estates Office, the University of Hong Kong 2 Mr David LO Technical Manager of Estates Office, the University of Hong Kong for agenda Ms Jeannie TSANG Faculty Secretary of the Faculty of Medicine, item 6 the University of Hong Kong Mr NG Tak-wing Chief Engineer/Railway Development 1-1, Highways Department Mr Stephen WAT Senior Engineer/South Island Line 1, Highways Department Ms Doris CHAN Senior Engineer/Priority Railway 3, Transport Department for agenda Mr Ken WONG Project Manager – SIL Civil item 7 MTR Corporation Limited Mr Bernard WONG Senior Liaison Engineer, MTR Corporation Limited Ms Samantha SIU Public Relations Manager - Projects & Property, MTR Corporation Limited Opening Remarks: The Chairman welcomed Mr LAU Kong-wah, the Under Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, to the meeting for discussion of agenda item 1. He also extended his welcome to all Members and regular government representatives for joining the meeting. 2. The Chairman said that the meeting would be conducted in accordance with the established arrangement, under which each Member would be allotted a maximum of two three-minute slots to speak in respect of each agenda item. He also reminded Members to speak as concise as possible. The electronic timer would beep when it reached two minutes 30 seconds and three minutes of each speaking slot respectively. The suggested duration for discussion of the agenda items had also been e-mailed to Members earlier (Reference Paper 1). The Secretary estimated that the meeting would come to a close no later than 8:40 p.m., and if Members wished to leave earlier, they should inform the secretariat staff as early as possible. 3 Part I – Items for Discussion Agenda Item 1: Consultation Document on the Method for Selecting the Chief Executive by Universal Suffrage (SDC Paper No. 26/2015) [2:31 p.m. – 4:25 p.m.] 3. The Chairman said that this agenda item was raised by the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau (CMAB) to consult SDC about the Consultation Document on the Method for Selecting the Chief Executive (CE) by Universal Suffrage, and Mr CHU Lap-wai and Dr YANG Mo, PhD had also proposed a motion concerning the method for selecting CE by universal suffrage in writing before the meeting. Besides, Mr AU Nok-hin had indicated his wish to make an oral statement in respect of this agenda item in writing before the meeting. 4. The Chairman suggested that Mr LAU Kong-wah, Under Secretary for CMAB (USCMA) should briefly introduce the content of the Consultation Document before Members were invited to give their views on the Consultation Document. Then, Mr AU Nok-hin would make an oral statement, followed by a debate on the motion proposed by the two Members. The estimated duration for discussion of this agenda item was 1 hour and 30 minutes, and Members were reminded to speak as concisely as possible. 5. Mr LAU Kong-wah, USCMA, briefly introduced the Consultation Document as follows: (i) while the second round public consultation on the method for selecting the CE by universal suffrage had ended, the views and conclusions collected at this meeting would also be incorporated in the report to be released in April 2015. Therefore, he hoped that Members would actively express their views; (ii) it was the aspiration of the Central Authorities, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government and the people of Hong Kong to elect the CE by universal suffrage in 2017. Consultation on and promotion of constitutional development had been undertaken for well over a year and the public had been waiting for years to elect the CE by universal suffrage. We were now only one step away from this goal; (iii) after releasing the consultation report in April 2015, the Government expected to submit to the Legislative Council (LegCo) the resolution on the amendments to Annex I to the Basic Law in due course. Subject to LegCo’s endorsement, which was the third step of the “Five-Step Process” of constitutional development, Hong Kong would have, for the first time in 4 history, the opportunity for members of the public to elect the CE by universal suffrage through “one person, one vote”. The Government looked forward to this opportunity eagerly; (vi) despite public aspiration for universal suffrage, it was considerably difficult for the proposals to be endorsed by LegCo. The Government would continue to do its best in the coming two to three months to show its sincerity in taking forward constitutional development; and (v) he understood that as DC Members maintained very close liaison with local residents, they were very much aware of their sentiments. Therefore, he called upon Members to actively express their views and voice their opinions so as to make progress for constitutional development. 6. The Chairman invited Members to raise their comments. 7. Mr CHU Lap-wai said that the majority of the public supported the Government to promote constitutional reform according to the Basic Law. The existing electoral method was to have CE elected by a 1 200-member Election Committee. If the constitutional reform could be implemented, more than five million eligible voters would be able to elect CE by “one person, one vote” in 2017, which was a great stride in constitutional and democratic development. He took the view that it was very important for Hong Kong to take this step. As every package might have its own downside, he considered that it would do no good to the overall development of Hong Kong if we dragged our feet over this. In view of this, he called for LegCo Members who had made clear their intention not to support the endorsement of the constitutional reform package to think twice and listen to public views before making the decision. As LegCo Members were representatives of the public, they should vote according to public opinion. If the constitutional reform package was voted down, he believed that the whole enterprise of constitutional reform could hardly make a new start within a short period of time. All the Hong Kong people would lose out if the reform was in a stalemate. He called upon all LegCo Members to take heed of public opinion, discuss the restrictions laid down by the Basic Law in a pragmatic manner and stop clutching to those idealistic ideas. Hong Kong could only see benefits in this way. He supported the constitutional reform package proffered by the Government and was looking forward to the election of CE through “one person, one vote” in 2017. 8. Mr AU Nok-hin said that constricted by the “Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPCSC)’s 831 framework”, the election method of CE was indeed universal suffrage “with screening”. He pointed to the fact that the Government lacked sincerity to communicate with the public during the entire consultation process. Citing this DC meeting as an example, he indicated that Mr 5 LAU Kong-wah, USCMA, the representative of CMAB, had made no promise to listen to proposals such as “civil nomination” and “three channels for nomination”. Moreover, the “blank vote proposal” put forward earlier by Mr CHEN Hung-yee, Professor of the University of Hong Kong, had also failed to win Beijing’s support. He quoted from a thesis published by Mr LAU Kong-wah, USCMA, when he was studying at the Department of Public and Social Administration of the City Polytechnic of Hong Kong, pointing out that there were restrictions in DC system.

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