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Martin Lee

IF it was not for the much-criticised Bill of Rights proposals, the Preliminary Working Committee would have made a good impression on Hong Kong people, according to PWC member Lau Siu-kai.

  And, he said, both the Chinese and British Governments are to blame for making a political issue of the controversy.

  Looking back over more than 30 months of work carried out by the PWC, Professor Lau admitted their Bill of Rights proposals went too far.

  'We should spend more time to study the issue,' he said.

  The PWC's legal sub-group dropped a bombshell by proposing to dilute the bill and reinstate six Draconian laws that might threaten freedom of speech and assembly in Hong Kong after 1997.

  'It would be much better for the PWC if there is no suggestion like the one to reinstate the old laws.

  'Our popularity would shoot up,' he said.

  While there has been clear opposition to their proposals on the Bill of Rights, Professor Lau argues that other plans put forward by the PWC could only be described as controversial by those with violently opposing views.

  Most PWC proposals were acceptable to the community, he said, except those for the provisional legislature and the cut-off date for returnees.

  He said some plans had been well received.

  These included pledges to preserve the civil service system and to have flexible arrangements for the two lower tiers of the political structure after 1997 - the district boards and municipal councils.

  The cut-off date proposal, he said, was already a compromise.

  Many people had tried to insist emigrants should have to stay continuously for another seven years for permanent residency - even if they return to the territory before July 1, 1997.

  The PWC's own survey also found most respondents either had no view, or supported the idea of setting up an interim legislature.

  Even on the Bill of Rights proposals, China already considers the final package lenient. This was because it has agreed to keep the bill with only a few modifications, he said.

  'To me, the PWC is successful if people agree our proposals are justified with good reasons and are within a level they can tolerate,' said Professor Lau.

  Citing the disputes over the Bill of Rights, he complained that the PWC has been 'emotionalised, politicised, personalised, ideologised and conspiratorised', by opponents. 'Everyone has to be cool-headed to look for solutions.

  'But it turns out that this is not an era of cool-headedness,' he said.

  Professor Lau, however, believes the criticisms levelled at the PWC in the past two years were inevitable.

  'I never think it is possible to fit our work entirely into the expectations of the general public.

  'Differences do exist in terms of the thinking between the PWC and the public.

  'The PWC will inevitably become the target of attacks.

  'It is a product of the collapse of co-operation between China and Britain.

  'This is what I have prepared for from the very beginning.'   Professor Lau admitted the PWC had 'intrinsic defects' and that many opposed it being set up.

  What he has tried to do, he said, was to inject reason and intellectual argument into the PWC's discussion.

  'I don't know how much one can achieve, but in the long run it will be good if China is influenced.'   Professor Lau admitted that not many colleagues on the PWC were prepared to challenge the official line.

  'We must work on an assumption that both Hong Kong and China can be persuaded to accommodate changes. Local PWC members should play a mediating role between Hong Kong and China.'   Frustrated by the avalanche of criticism against the PWC, Professor Lau said some members had developed a 'crisis mentality' and become defeatist.

   'They hold the view that it is impossible to win popular support and that the media has been hostile to them.

  'We have to assume that Hong Kong people can be reasonable and try to win their sympathy,' he said.

  The main problem facing the Preparatory Committee when it comes to winning the hearts and minds of Hong Kong people, he said, will lie in the image it presents to the public.

  'The fatal flaw for the PWC was its image, not the substance of the proposals they put forward.

  'Many of us are not willing to get in touch with the public to explain ourselves.

  'This is not modern politics, but elitist politics.

  'But many in the PWC are a legacy of elitism in the colonial past. They were convinced that what they believe to be correct is correct.'   Professor Lau is optimistic that the situation will improve when the Preparatory Committee is set up next month.

  'The proposals the Preparatory Committee will lodge will be more lenient because all the hardliners in the pro-China circle have been recruited into the PWC.' Lau Siu-kai was talking to No Kwai-yan 



Preparing territory for the handover