AS GOVERNOR Chris Patten's political reform proposals are thrown increasingly into doubt at the negotiating table in Beijing, disheartened supporters can take some solace in how one of his other pro-democracy initiatives is beginning to bear fruit: appointed legislator Christine Loh Kung-wai is moving towards standing for direct election in 1995.
While Miss Loh insists she has yet to make up her mind - ''so many things are still fluid at the moment'' - the ardently pro-democracy legislator is already talking in the tone of someone eager to face the hustings.
She has had no shortage of encouragement with fellow democrats urging her to take up the challenge.
Some reports even suggested United Democrats vice-chairman Dr Yeung Sum had been deputed to make a formal approach. While that was denied, and the two had a good laugh about it in the Legislative Council tearoom last week, other party members have been lobbying hard.
They have even decided where Miss Loh should stand: Hunghom, a new seat likely to be created under one of Mr Patten's least controversial proposals for 20 smaller geographical constituencies in 1995.
The United Democrats has no strong candidate there, and believes the 10,000 voters in the middle-class Whampoa Gardens complex - making up the heart of the future constituency - would be more tolerant of a Western-educated candidate, who was once accusedof being less Chinese than Sir David Akers-Jones by fellow Beijing adviser David Chu Yu-lin.