Former chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang has issued an open letter to the chief executive, criticising the green paper on democratic reform for containing 'a bewildering range of questions' and failing to provide any guarantee against manipulating the opinion-gathering process.
In the letter, published on the letters page of the South China Morning Post today, Mrs Chan addresses Donald Tsang Yam-kuen and accuses him of failing to fulfil election pledges regarding political development.
'The green paper does not reflect the public pledge you made ... to place before the community three possible models for attainment of universal suffrage for the election of the chief executive and all Legislative Council members,' it says.
'Far from presenting three clear options, the green paper merely rehashes the Commission on Strategic Development's deliberations and then presents the reader with a bewildering range of questions.'
The letter by Hong Kong's former No2 official enticed a corresponding letter from the government, in which the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Stephen Lam Sui-lung, asserts the green paper 'marks the delivery of chief executive's electoral promise'.
'It would not do justice [to the over 300 submissions received by the Commission on Strategic Development] if we only highlight, say, three proposals received from the major political parties,' he wrote.
Mrs Chan said she and her core group would submit a 'full and considered response' in due course, but there were 'certain concerns' that she would like to 'place on record now'. Her letter raises a series of concerns and questions, some of which Mr Lam's reply does not address.
