District appointments 'favour Tung'
The re-introduction of appointed seats to the district councils will benefit Tung Chee-hwa if he seeks a second term, according to a human rights activist.
Law Yuk-kai, director of Human Rights Monitor, said the Government would be able to tighten political control through the appointment system.
'District councillors have the right to choose the chief executive - who appoints the councillors. It will have a direct influence on whether the Chief Executive will be chosen for another term,' he said.
According to the Basic Law, representatives of district organisations will sit on the 800-member committee that will elect the next chief executive.
Mr Law was among 15 of the 20 individuals and groups who opposed appointments to district councils at a bills committee meeting yesterday.
Central and Western Provisional District Board member Cheng Lai-king said the re-introduction of appointed seats would destroy the electoral system.
'What is the point of casting votes if the person you've voted against is appointed a councillor the next day? 'Why is the Government so eager to control the district boards, which only have 17,000 people in each constituency and the matters they discuss can be as trivial as something about a street?' Wong Fung-chu, of the Tin Shui Wai Community Service Centre, said the appointed seat system lagged far behind village elections on the mainland.
'It is ironic for us to talk about the re-introduction of the appointed system when villages on the mainland choose their representatives through elections,' she said.
The Alliance of Democracy 2000's spokesman, Lau Ka-yee, said appointed seats would be consolation prizes for government supporters. She said professionals should have the courage to stand for election if they wanted to serve districts.
However, Ho Man Tin Residents' Association spokesman Paul Lau Tat-chor backed appointments, saying democracy meant balanced participation.
Ng Siu-cheung, of the Kwun Tong Residents' Union, said that appointed members would improve the quality of the district councils.
