2003-12-04 - 2:25 a.m.
(6 Dec 2003, SCMP) With the opposition of the Liberal Party and the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of HK, the motion proposed by the Democratic Party in urging the Chief Executive to appoint as least District Councilors as possible was defeated in Wednesday��s Legislative Council meeting as expected. I do think democracy should be respected but I really doubt anything of practical value could be achieved before we seriously review the roles and functions of the District Councils.
Founded on 1981, the District Council has undergone a series of transformation in terms of its status, structure, composition, power and functions. After the handover of HK in 1997, with the abandonment of Urban Council and Regional Council, the 18 District Councils were expected to share a more important role in local politics than before. However, because of conservatism in the government, the District Councils continue to serve as a window-dressing consultative body only, having no actual power on policy-making and resource-allocation concerning their districts. Apart from organizing some welfare projects and civilian campaigns, the significance of the Councils is dubious. If the function of the Councils is just to serve as a welfare body for local residents, then it may be good to appoint as many ��professionals�� as possible so as to give their opinion over local projects. But if the Council is to serve as a local parliament with more political power, then we have to consider seriously whether any appointed member could truly represent the electorate and sincerely reflect public opinion.
Discussions on whether the appointment system should be abolished are deemed to be futile without further re-examining the functions of the Councils. I suggest the government should adopt a more democratic reform on District Councils, empowering them with more political power in formulating and implementing local policies. Such move can encourage public participation in local politics and in turn increase their sense of belonging to the community. This can also show the respect towards democracy by the government and help to regain her popularity.
The government should not be worried that the empowerment of the District Councils would render her as a lame-duck government. The nub of the issue is how to improve the coordination between the central administration and the District Councils. If the government can guarantee more support for its policy in the district level, social cohesiveness which is utterly lacking in HK would also be enhanced.
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