Debate on the 2012 political reform package

Controversies over the 2012 political reform package can be a good issue worth discussion in the L.S. lessons. Before analysing the issue in depth, students can organize and list the contentions of the Pan-democrats and pro-establishment camp. Here are some of their arguments:

Pan-democrats

(1) The proposal does not confirm whether the functional constituency will be abolished or not because its existence does not conform with the principle of universal suffrage.
(2) The proposal does not delineate the road map to electoral arrangement of universal suffrage of the Chief Executive in 2017 and the Legislative Council in 2020.
(3) No clear definition of "universal suffrage" has been made.
(4) Allocating the new functional seats to the existing district council constituency only assures the long-live existence of the functional constituencies.

Pro-establishment

(1) The National People's Congress Standing Committee's decision requires that the 2012 Legislative Council should still have an equal number of lawmakers returned by geograhical direct elections and by functional constituencies.
(2) The SAR government is constitutionally restricted by the so-called five-step process.Under the restriction, the current government is only mandated to deal with electoral arrangements for 2012 but not the arrangements for universal suffrage in 2017 and 2020.
(3) The 2012 package using elected district councillors to elect six "new functional constituency", together with five additional geographical directly elected seats, can extend the democratic element of the legislature and to dilute the influence of narrowly based business and professional functional constituencies.
(4) Another setback in political reform will make the society more confrontational and ungovernable as people become desperate about the prospect of democracy.


The following video links of some commentators may help you think about this issue from various perspectives.

ATV Newsline (13-6-2010)Part 1 & Part 2

http://app2.hkatv.com/v3/webtv/webtv.php?program=3000006