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AFTER four years' experience in Legco, Ms Lau strongly opposes any criticism that it acts as a mere 'rubber stamp'.

   Independent Chim Pui-chung said in our series on Monday that every legislator should be crystal clear that the lawmaking body is a 'tiger without teeth'.

  But Ms Lau said: 'I do not agree with the opinions that say Legco is powerless, a rubber stamp.

  'You cannot say so as long as members get the power to vote, to decide whether the bill, the request for funding, should be passed or not,' she said.

  'Legco is very powerful. But the power is not concentrated on one member. It is a collective power,' she said.

  The former journalist, 43, experienced a career change in 1991 when she was elected into the council for New Territories East.

  A BBC correspondent, she returned to the territory in 1984 to join the Far Eastern Economic Review, which she quit in 1991 to stand for election.

   Now she will try again in September's geographical direct elections, saying: 'Having served for years, I feel it's worth continuing.'    She says she has joined more than 160 committees, sub-groups or panel meetings over the past few years - and has been absent from less than 10.

   Ms Lau attributes her attendance rate to health and interest. 'To me, Legco business is to the exclusion of most other things.'   Although she thought power was limited in making policy because the administration did not allow enough time for legislators to digest new things and make suggestions, Ms Lau said it was heading in the right direction.

   'It is having a healthy development. [The Government] has made an effort to fulfil the Legco demands.

  'What it has to learn now is what it means to be publicly accountable,' she said.

  More transparency during the policy-making process was expected, she said, and more opinions from Legco should be adopted.

  She anticipated the administration might find it difficult to deal with a new Legco composed entirely as a result of elections, both direct and indirect.

   'To what extent the next session will incline to follow the Government lines depends very much on the strength of the 'third force',' she said.

  Ms Lau believes the pro-democracy force will be fortunate to win half of the 60 seats. Most of the rest will be occupied by the relatively conservative pro-China or pro-business factions.

  'Between the two main camps, it is likely the third force, like the breakfast group - the unholy alliance of the independents - will existas it did in the past ses-sion.

  'Their political inclination will be decisive,' she said.

   As a liberal independent, the memory of her unsuccessful bid in 1994 to create a 60-seat, directly-elected chamber, is still fresh in her mind.

  Ms Lau still believes the suggestion, if realised, could be a way to show China that full-scale direct elections could work - and gain her a place on the through-train.

  She says the experience she has gained in the chamber has failed to shake her views on China and the British and Hong Kong governments.

  But it did teach her new things.

 'I was glad to learn that lobbying can be a tool not only for the Government, but members themselves to achieve their objectives in the council,' she said.



Lau seeking to continue share in collective power