THE Liberal Democratic Federation (LDF) yesterday proposed that foreign passport holders should only be allowed to run in 12 functional constituency elections in 1995 in order to enforce the Basic Law's nationality restriction. Unveiling the group's political reform proposals, Miss Maria Tam Wai-chu, an executive committee member and Hongkong affairs adviser, said foreign passport holders should be barred from taking part in direct elections and the Election Committee electionsin 1995. Miss Tam, also a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, denied the proposed restriction would have racial or nationality discrimination, adding that no country in the world had allowed non-citizens to stand in popular elections. The Basic Law stipulates that the number of legislators holding foreign passports and with right of abode in a foreign country must not exceed 20 per cent of the total membership of the council. Stressing that functional constituencies were set up to absorb special talents for the Legco, Miss Tam said foreign passport holders should be allowed to run in elections in functional constituencies related to Hongkong's international port status and foreign trade. The LDF suggested there should be nine new functional constituencies: textile and garment; transport and communication; education; import and export; insurance; information technology; wholesale and retail; social work; and recreation and sport. It proposed that foreigners be allowed to run for election in the functional constituencies of commerce, industry, property and architecture, tourism, banking and finance, textile and garment, import and export, wholesale and retail, information technology and transport. An advocate for through train arrangements during the Basic Law drafting process, Miss Tam proposed the National People's Congress (NPC) should stipulate a set of clear criteria before the 1995 Legco elections, upon which the Special Administrative Region (SAR) Preparatory Committee would vet the legislators in 1997. But she warned that even though the NPC was willing to stipulate such criteria, there could be no absolute guarantee that all elected legislators would sit on the through train because the NPC would have ultimate right to interpret the criteria. Miss Tam criticised the British move to set the issue of the through train as its bottom line in the Sino-British talks. Miss Tam, who sat on the Basic Law Drafting Committee when she concurrently served as an Executive Councillor, said Britain had no power to determine the criteria for the through train arrangements. She also expected the NPC would be reluctant to stipulate the criteria in 1995 because the move would constrain the flexibility of the SAR Preparatory Committee in vetting the legislators in 1997. The LDF also proposed a 400-strong Election Committee with its members representing all sectors of the population. Opposing the single-seat-single-vote system proposed by Governor Mr Chris Patten, the LDF proposed a two-seat-single-vote system from 1995 so that the Legco would be balanced by different voices. Miss Tam said her group opposed the abolition of appointed seats on district boards, the Urban Council and Regional Council in 1995, stressing that the three-tier representative system should be developed gradually.
