Administrative changes of Hong Kong in the post-wwii period up to 1997

Transcription

1 Administrative changes of Hong Kong in the post-wwii period up to 1997 Name: Choi Ming Yi Class: F.4C Class no.: 27 The administrative changes of Hong Kong in the post-second World War period up to 1997 could mainly be divided into 3 phases. The first phase was between the Young Plan (1946) and the riots of 1966 and 1967.The second one was between the riots of 1966 as well as 1967 and the signing the Sino-British Joint Declaration in The final one was 1

2 between the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984 and In general, the development of the administrative changes of Hong Kong from the post-second World War period to the 1970s gradually became democratic. Nevertheless, the British government suddenly speeded up the steps for the development of a representative government in the 1980s and 1990s. Later, this project will analyse the causes for the British government to do so. The first phase of the administrative changes of Hong Kong in the post-second World War period up to 1997 was between the Young Plan (1946) and the riots of 1966 as well as During the Second World War ( ), Hong Kong was occupied by Japan after Governor Sir Mark Young surrendered unconditionally at Christmas in After Japanese surrender, Young resumed his position. He knew that Britain had failed to defend Hong Kong. For the sake of regaining British reputation, he proposed setting up a Municipal Council and opening two-third of the seats to elected members. Moreover, he suggested increasing the number of unofficial members in the Legislative Council. This proposal was subsequently called the Young Plan (1946). Yet it suffered miscarriage since some British and Hong Kong officials suspected that Hong Kong was not ready for such change and the British government scared that the Chinese would threat British administration as they would become the majority in the government. In spite of the failure of the Young Plan (1946), it planted the seed for the development of a representative government. First, there were 3 aspects of changes in the Executive Council. For the number of official members (including ex-officio members) and unofficial members, prior to 1948, the official members outnumbered the unofficial members. In 1948, the number of official members was equivalent to that of unofficial members. Until 1950, the situation before 1948 was in reverse. By 1967, the unofficial members even became the majority. For the class of unofficial members, unlike the unofficial members in the early period, they were not necessarily the leaders of the British mercantile houses like the Jardine Matheson Company. Their occupational backgrounds varied from top-level managers of different mercantile houses, wealthy people, merchants to lawyers though none of them came from the grassroots. For the number of Chinese members, prior to the Second World War ( ), there was only 1 Chinese member in the Executive council. After the Second World War ( ), 2

3 half of the unofficial members were Chinese. In the later period, Chinese became the majority. All these showed that different classes of citizens and Chinese had growing political influence. Secondly, Governor Alexander Grantham implemented a policy of localization of the civil service in the late 1940s. Priority would be given to local people applying the posts as civil servants except for the heads of the government departments and the Commissioner of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force. Thereby, the number of local civil servants increased rapidly. The Chief Secretary and the Finance Secretary were even occupied by 2 local Chinese, Anson Chan Fang On-sang and Donald Tsang Yam Kuen in 1993 and 1995 respectively. This paved the way for the Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong after The second phase was between the riots of 1966 as well as 1967 and the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration in In April 1966, a citizen, So Sau Chung, started a hunger strike at the Star Pier to oppose the increase in fare of the first class of the Star Ferry for 5 cents. On 7 May 1967, over 4000 people supported him by demonstration. Unfortunately, the demonstration became a riot. Finally, the government suppressed it within 1 week by imposing a curfew and using the British troops. In May 1967, there was a labour dispute in a factory in San Po Kong. Then the worker started to imitate the Cultural Revolution ( ). They demonstrated in the street with the Little Red Book as well as made many real and fake bombs in the street. The government had to impose a curfew in Kowloon to protect the general public. In December, Chinese Premier, Zhou Enlai ordered the leftists in Hong Kong to stop the riot and it came to an end. After these two riots, the government realized that there was a lack of communication between the government and Hong Kong people as well as a lack of recreational activities for adolescents so that the leftists could spread Mao s ideas to them. As a result, the government carried out a series of policies to improve its relationship with the public and people s livelihood. Firstly, the government held the Hong Kong Festival in October 1967 to provide a lot of recreational activities for Hong Kong people. On top of that, after the riot of 1967, the government increased the number of recreational activities for adolescents sharply so as to prevent the spread of Mao s ideas. Added to the above, in 1968, Governor David Trench carried out the City District Officers scheme. In 1969, the City District Offices were 3

4 established to serve as a liaison office in maintaining contact with local organizations. In 1981, a unified district administration, the City and New Territories Administration was established to take over the City District Offices. Moreover, with the rapid economic growth during the 1960s and 1970s, more professionals and elites were needed to help the government in dealing with local community affairs. Hence, the government set up advisory committees and appointed the elites as the members in different advisory committees in order to set up a communication network between the government and the public as the elites could reflect the public s opinions. There were statutory and non-statutory advisory committees. They could be classified into 6 categories. The main duty of the first type including the Antiquities Advisory Board and the Exchange Fund Advisory Committee was giving professional advice to the government. The main duty of the second one such as the Standing Commission on Civil Service Salaries and Conditions of Service as well as the Operations Review Committee of the Independent Commission Against Corruption was helping the government in decision-making. The main duty of the third one like the Medical Committee, Tung Wah Group of Hospitals was giving advice to the head of the department. The main duty of the fourth one including the Industry Development Board as well as the Port Land and Transport Committee was helping the government in collecting public opinion. The main duty of the fifth one such as the Consumer Council and the Police Complaints Committee was dealing matters related to the livelihood of the people. The main duty of the final one like the Action Committee Against Narcotics was carrying out decisions after consultation. Furthermore, with a view to raise the efficiency of the government and save enormous expenditure, the government transferred certain public services to statutory public enterprises that were set up by an ordinance of the Legislative Council. The statutory public enterprises could be classified into 3 categories. The first type such as the Land Development Corporation and the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation were non-profit making. The government owned all of their shares and the government appointed their directors. The budget of the second one including Hong Kong Housing Authority and Hospital Authority were controlled by the government and their directors were appointed by the government. The third one like Hong Kong Productivity Council, Hong 4

5 Kong Trade development Council, Hong Kong Tourist Association and the Consumer Council were government-aided. There were non-governmental officials in charge. Aside from that, in 1973, a Chief Police Superintendent, Peter Godber, was discovered to control assets of over HK$4.3 million by corruption. However, he escaped to Britain easily. This led to a mass rally demanding for catching Godber and fighting corruption in the Victoria Park held by thousands people. Thus, Governor Murray MacLehose established the Independent Commission Against Corruption, which was an independent anti-corruption organization, in 1974 to take over the Anti-corruption Office of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force in order to pacify Hong Kong people and prevent the rally from becoming a riot. Additionally, in hopes of improving people s livelihood, MacLehose established Hong Kong Housing Authority in 1972 to implement the Ten-Year Housing Programme to build public housing estates for 1.5 million people. In 1976, he implemented the Home Ownership Scheme to assist people having lower salaries buy some inexpensive houses. Apart from that, with the rapid population growth, the government started developing new towns since the 1970s. Tsuen Wan, Sha Tin and Tuen Mun were the first generation of new towns developed in the early 1970s. Tai Po, Fan Ling or Sheung Shui and Yuen long were the second generation of new towns developed in the late 1970s. Tseung Kwan O, Tin Shui Wai and Tung Chung were the third generation of new towns developed in the 1980s and 1990s. The third phase was between the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984 and In 1982, Chinese leader, Deng Xiaoping met with British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher to inform Britain that China would resume sovereignty over Hong Kong from 1 July Thus, Governor Edward Youde issued the Green Paper entitled The Further Development of Representative Government in Hong Kong in July 1984 and issued the White Paper by the end of 1984 before the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration (1984) so as to develop a representative government. In this paper, an electoral element in the Legislative Council was proposed for the first time by the government. After that, elections gradually were held in the Legislative Council and other councils. First, there were great changes in the Legislative Council. The first indirect election was held in the Legislative Council in Among 46 5

6 unofficial members, 12, 1, 1 and 10 were elected from 9 functional constituencies, from all members of the Urban Council, from all members of the Regional Council and by an electoral college constituency made up of members of all district boards respectively. In 1991, district elections were introduced. Among 39 elected members, 21 and 18 were elected from functional constituencies and by direct elections in geographical constituencies respectively. Moreover, a deputy president was appointed by the governor from all members to chair the sittings. The governor who remained president and member systematically absented himself from sittings. In 1993, the governor ceased to be a member of the Legislative Council and handed over the presidency to a member elected from all unofficial members. In 1995, the Legislative Council was to be wholly elected. Among 60 members, 30, 20 and 10 were elected from functional constituencies, by direct elections in geographical constituencies and by the Election Committee constituency respectively. The president was elected from all members. Nevertheless, the Chinese government did not recognize the results of the 1995 elections. In 1996, the Chinese government set up the Preliminary Working Committee to form the Provisional Legislative Council (PLC) after 1 July The 60 members in the PLC were elected by the 400-member Selection Committee for the First Government of the HKSAR on 21 December Then the elections for the first term of the Legislative Council of the HKSAR were held on 24 May Additionally, there was a great change in the Executive Council during the governorship of the last governor, Christopher Patten. Prior to his governorship, over 50% of the appointed unofficial members were also the members of the Legislative Council. Consequently, the Executive Council could implement the policies successfully with few opposition of the Legislative Council. However, Patten implemented the division policy of the members in the Executive Council and the Legislative Council in order to set up a more democratic and representative government. On top of that, 19 district boards were set up throughout the territory in accordance with the District Board Ordinance in Later, Yau Tsim District combined with Mong Kok District, so there have been only 18 districts so far. The main functions of the boards were to advise the government on matters affecting the well-being of people living or working in the district and to help monitor the work of government departments at the district level. In 1982, the franchise was given to 6

7 people who were 21 years old or above and were Hong Kong permanent residents. In 1985, all official members were abolished. In 1994, the number of seats for the directly elected members greatly increased. In addition, after the riots 1966 and 1967, the government attached more importance to collecting more opinions from the public. Hence, in 1973, the government amended the Urban Council Ordinance to abolish all the seats for official members in the Urban Council. In 1983, the franchise was extended to people who were 21 years old or above and were Hong Kong permanent residents so that the number of qualified voters increased significantly and the Urban Council became more representative. Furthermore, the Provisional Regional Council was set up in 1985 as there was a rapid population growth in the New Territories due to the development of new towns. Its main function was to deal with municipal affairs in the New Territories and outlying islands. In 1986, the Regional Council was formally established in accordance with the Regional Council Ordinance passed in Besides the Regional Council, the Heung Yee Kuk founded in 1926 was also to advise the government on matters related to the New Territories and to encourage preservation of traditional customs. It represented the local inhabitants of the New Territories and was reconstructed as a statutory body in Thus, the Regional Council Ordinance allowed the chairman and 2 vice-chairmen of the Heung Yee Kuk to be the ex-official members of the Regional Council in order to help the operation of the Regional Council. Aside from that, with the rapid economic growth and population growth in Hong Kong, it was essential to increase the number of branches and departments in the government in order to implement the policies efficiently. For instance, the number of government departments increased from 59 to 71 from 1985 to Moreover, some of the names of the departments also changed. For example, the City and New Territories Administration was renamed the Home Affairs Department. From the above discussion, it is correct to say that the British government intentionally speeded up the steps for developing a representative government in Hong Kong in the 1980s and 1990s by introducing indirect and direct elections to the Legislative Council and other councils. It is highly possible that the British government did so due to the following three reasons. 7

8 First, during the Sino-British discussion from 1982 to 1984, Chinese leader, Deng Xiaoping insisted that China would resume sovereignty over Hong Kong after 1 July The British government realized that it would be unfeasible to continue British administration in Hong Kong after 1 July Hence, it was beneficial to the British government if it set up a representative government for Hong Kong people to safeguard their rights after Chinese rule so as to show that the British rule was more efficient and liberal than the Chinese rule. Secondly, the government enforced the nine-year compulsory education programme in With the rise in educational level, more Hong Kong people would know more about democracy and demand for a representative government. Thereby, the British government speeded up the steps for the development of representative government to prevent Hong Kong people from starting the riots like the riots of 1966 and Last but not least, the British government scared that the Chinese government would make Hong Kong in chaos like the Cultural Revolution ( ) or adopt communism in Hong Kong. Then the British interests in Hong Kong would be minimized since Britain was a major trading partner with Hong Kong since Hong Kong became British colony. To protect the British economy, the British government needed to establish a representative government in Hong Kong to satisfy Hong Kong people so that China could not make Hong Kong in chaos. It was because if China did so, Hong Kong people must oppose it and Hong Kong would become unstable. Then Hong Kong s economy would be serious affected and it was also harmful to China. In 2001, Hong Kong was Britain s second largest Asian market. This showed that the British economy would not be affected as Hong Kong still adopted capitalism successfully. In conclusion, after the Second World War ( ), despite the failure of the Young Plan (1946), a gradual reform in the Executive Council and a localization policy of the civil service were implemented in the late 1940s. Until the riots of 1966 and 1967, the government carried out a series of policies to improve its relationship with the public. After the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984, the British government speeded up the steps for the development of a representative government to show that the British rule was more efficient than the Chinese rule. Besides, it wanted to pacify highly educated Hong Kong people to prevent them from starting the riots like the riots of 1966 and 8

9 1967. Eventually, it wanted to protect the British economy. It seems that to protect the British economy was the most important reason for the British government to do so since it was directly conducive to the British economy. Yet the other 2 reasons did not benefit Britain so much. 9