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Provisional Legislative Council
PLC Paper No. 103 /96-97
Ref : PLC/C/3
Minutes of the Meeting of the Provisional Legislative Council
held on Saturday 22 March 1997 at 9:30 am
Members present:
President
The Honourable Mrs Rita FAN
The Honourable WONG Siu-yee
The Honourable TIEN Pei-chun, James
The Honourable CHU Yu-lin, David
The Honourable HO Sai-chu
The Honourable HO Sing-tin, Edward
Dr the Honourable HO Chung-tai
The Honourable NG Leung-sing
The Honourable NG Ching-fai
The Honourable LI Ka-cheung, Eric
The Honourable LI Kwok-po, David
The Honourable LEE Kai-ming
The Honourable LEE Peng-fei, Allen
The Honourable Mrs TU, Elsie
The Honourable Mrs CHOW LIANG Shuk-yee, Selina
The Honourable Mrs LAM, Peggy
The Honourable WU, Henry
The Honourable NGAI Shiu-kit
The Honourable ARCULLI, Ronald
The Honourable YUEN Mo
The Honourable MA Fung-kwok
The Honourable CHEUNG Hon-chung
The Honourable Mrs TSO WONG Man-yin
The Honourable LEUNG Chun-ying
Dr the Honourable LEONG Che-hung
The Honourable Mrs LEUNG LAU Yau-fan, Sophie
The Honourable MOK Ying-fan
The Honourable HUI Yin-fat
The Honourable CHAN Choi-hi
The Honourable CHAN Yuen-han
The Honourable CHAN Wing-chan
The Honourable CHAN Kam-lam
The Honourable TSANG Yok-sing
The Honourable CHENG Kai-nam
The Honourable FUNG Kin-kee, Frederick
The Honourable WONG Wang-fat, Andrew
The Honourable WONG Yu-hong, Philip
The Honourable WONG Ying-ho, Kennedy
The Honourable YOUNG, Howard
The Honourable YEUNG Yiu-chung
The Honourable IP Kwok-him
The Honourable CHIM Pui-chung
The Honourable LIU Sing-lee, Bruce
The Honourable LAU Kong-wah
The Honourable LAU Wong-fat
The Honourable Mrs LAU Kin-yee, Miriam
The Honourable LAU Hon-chuen, Ambrose
The Honourable CHOY Kan-pui
The Honourable CHENG Ming-fun, Paul
The Honourable CHENG Yiu-tong
Dr the Honourable TANG Siu-tong
The Honourable FOK, Timothy
The Honourable KAN Fook-yee
The Honourable NGAN Kam-chuen
The Honourable LO Suk-ching
The Honourable LAW Cheung-kwok
The Honourable TAM Wai-chu, Maria
The Honourable TAM Yiu-chung
Members absent:
The Honourable TANG Ying-yen, Henry
The Honourable YEUNG Chun-kam
Clerk in attendance:
Ms NG Man-wah, Pauline, Clerk to the Provisional Legislative Council
The President advised the Council that pending the endorsement of the Rules of Procedure of the Provisional Legislative
Council, she would apply the following rules for this meeting: that the quorum for the meeting would be one-half of the
Members of the Council; that she would allow short questions from Members for the purpose of elucidating matters in relation
to the progress report to be presented by Mrs Selina CHOW under Item I but no debate would be allowed; that on the
motions under Item II, Members could seek elucidation and the mover of the motion would be invited to respond
immediately, or Members could express opinions and the mover of the motion would reply after all Members had spoken;
that each Member could only speak once during debate and each speech should not exceed 15 minutes; that all voting would
be done by voices unless there was a claim for a division, which would then be done by a show of hands.
Papers
Mrs Selina CHOW presented the progress report by the Working Group on Rules of Procedure for the period from 23
February to 21 March 1997.
12 Members asked questions and Mrs Selina CHOW responded.
Motions
Terms of reference of the Working Group on Administrative Matters
Mr IP Kwok-him moved the following motion:
"That the terms of reference of the Working Group on Administrative Matters set up by resolution made and
passed by the Provisional Legislative Council on 22 February 1997 shall be -
The Working Group on Administrative Matters should be responsible to the Provisional Legislative Council
(the Council) regarding the following matters :
| (1) | to provide administrative support and services through a secretariat to the Council, including staffing
support, terms of employment, office accommodation and other administrative arrangements pertaining to
the smooth functioning of the Council and its committees/working groups;
| | (2) | to supervise the operation of the secretariat;
| | (3) | to oversee the domestic arrangements for meetings of the Council and its committees/working groups;
| | (4) | to deliberate on matters relating to the registration of Members' interests, honorarium and allowances for
Members, and other services and administrative arrangements to facilitate the work of Members, and to
make recommendations to the Council on such matters; and
| | (5) | to perform such other duties as the Council may by resolution determine.
The Working Group on Administrative Matters should conduct reviews at appropriate times and report
periodically to the Council."
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Question on Mr IP Kwok-him's motion proposed.
Question on Mr IP Kwok-him's motion put and agreed to.
Terms of reference of the Working Group on Rules of Procedure
Mrs Selina CHOW moved the following motion:
"That the terms of reference of the Working Group on Rules of Procedure set up by resolution made and
passed by the Provisional Legislative Council on 22 February 1997 shall be -
The Working Group on Rules of Procedure should be responsible to the Provisional Legislative Council (the
Council) regarding the following matters:
| (1) | to draft and to propose to the Council for its endorsement the rules of procedure of the Council;
| | (2) | to study the setting up of a committee system to facilitate the work of the Council at various stages of its
operation and keep such system under review from time to time and to make recommendations to the
Council;
| | (3) | to draft and to recommend guidelines for internal practices for use by the Council and its
committees/working groups in the conduct of their business;
| | (4) | to consult regularly with the President on matters of practice and procedure for the conduct of business of
the Council; and
| | (5) | to examine matters of practice and procedure referred to the Working Group by the Council, its
committees/working groups, the President, or raised by members of this Working Group.
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The Working Group on Rules of Procedure should conduct reviews at appropriate times and report
periodically to the Council."
Question on Mrs Selina CHOW's motion proposed.
Question on Mrs Selina CHOW's motion put and agreed to.
Registration of Members' Interests
Mr IP Kwok-him moved the following motion:
"That this Council agrees that unless and until another resolution is made and passed to provide for rules of
procedure on registration of Members' interests, the following arrangements shall be adopted with immediate
effect -
| (1) | Except for the purpose of making a registration of interests under paragraph (2), every Member shall, not
later than the date specified by resolution made and passed by the Provisional Legislative Council, furnish
to the Clerk, in such form as may be approved by the President, particulars of his registrable interests.
| | (2) | Every new Member of the Provisional Legislative Council shall, within 14 days from the date of his
becoming a new Member to fill a vacant seat, furnish to the Clerk, in such form as may be approved by
the President, particulars of his registrable interests.
| | (3) | Every Member shall furnish to the Clerk, in such form as may be approved by the President, particulars of
any change in such registrable interests, within 14 days of any such change.
| | (4) | The Clerk shall cause those particulars to be entered in a Register of Members' Interests and that register
shall be available for inspection by any person during office hours.
| | (5) | In this resolution , "registrable interests" means -
| | (a) | remunerated directorships of companies, public or private;
| | (b) | remunerated employments, offices, trades, professions or vocations;
| | (c) | the names of clients when the interests referred to above include personal services by Members
which arise out of or are related in any manner to his membership of the Council;
| | (d) | financial sponsorships, as a Member of the Council, by any person or organization, stating whether
any such sponsorships include any payment or any material benefit or advantage to the Member or
his spouse, whether direct or indirect;
| | (e) | overseas visits made by the Member or his spouse relating to or arising out of membership of the
Council whether the cost of any such visit has not been wholly borne by the Member or public funds;
| | (f) | any payments or any material benefits or advantages received by the Member or his spouse from or
on behalf of foreign governments, organizations or persons;
| | (g) | land and property;
| | (h) | the names of companies or other bodies in which the Member has, to his knowledge, either himself
or with or on behalf of his spouse or infant children, a beneficial interest in shareholdings of a nominal
value greater than one-hundredth of the issued share capital."
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Six Members raised questions to seek elucidation on Mr IP's motion. Mr IP responded.
One Member spoke on the motion.
Mr FUNG Kin-kee raised a point of order. He asked why Mr IP was allowed to respond to Members' questions instead of
giving a reply after all Members have spoken on the motion. The President explained that with the exception of the one
Member who had just spoken, all other Members had raised questions to seek elucidation on matters relating to the motion.
To allow Members to have some time to clarify with Mr IP Kwok-him on some of the points he made, the President
suspended the meeting at 11:00 a.m.
The President resumed at 11:17 a.m.
The President invited Members to continue to speak on Mr IP Kwok-him's motion.
Two Members spoke on the motion.
The President invited Mr IP Kwok-him to reply. Mr IP Kwok-him proposed to modify clause 5 (f) of his motion by adding
"¦]¨äijû¨¥÷" (translation: arising out of his membership of the Provisional Legislative Council) after "°t°¸ " in the Chinese
version and consequential amendment to the English translations to reflect the original intention of the Working Group when
requiring Members to register any payments, material benefits or advantages from foreign Governments, organisations or
persons. As those added words were merely improvement of the expression, he sought leave for him to make the
modification.
Dr LEONG Chi-hung asked if it was appropriate for an amendment to be made prior to the endorsement of the motion, or
was it more appropriate for an amendment to be passed to the Clerk and the Council to consider the amendment at the next
meeting.
The President explained that if the amendment involved a substantial change to the motion, she would consider it more
appropriate to give notice and allow Members to have time to consider the amendment beforehand. Since the modification
proposed by Mr IP Kwok-him was only a minor technical improvement to the expression on the motion, she had no
objection to waiving the notice for making the modification. She then asked Members if they wished to speak on the modified
motion.
Three Members spoke on the modified motion.
Mrs Selina CHOW pointed out that whilst she fully endorsed the President's decision to allow Mr IP to modify the motion
without notice, she would disagree with any further suggestions from Members to amend the motion without notice. She
considered it important to allow Members to have the chance to discuss and consider beforehand any motions put before the
Council.
The President invited Mr IP Kwok-him to make a final reply. Mr IP spoke.
Question on Mr IP Kwok-him is motion, as modified, put and agreed to.
Furnishing of Particulars of Registrable Interests of Members of the Provisional Legislative Council
Mr IP Kwok-him moved the following motion:
"That pursuant to and for the purpose of the resolution made and passed by the Provisional Legislative
Council on 22 March 1997 on registration of Members' interests, every Member of the Provisional Legislative
Council shall furnish particulars of his registrable interests to the Clerk to the Provisional Legislative Council
not later than 5 April 1997."
Question on Mr IP Kwok-him's motion proposed.
One Member spoke on the motion.
The President invited Mr IP Kwok-him to reply. Mr IP spoke.
Question on Mr IP Kwok-him's motion put and agreed to.
Rules of Procedure of the Provisional Legislative Council
Mrs Selina CHOW moved the following motion:
"That the Rules of Procedure of the Provisional Legislative Council of Hong Kong Special Administrative
Region set out in the Schedule be adopted."
Question on Mrs Selina CHOW's motion proposed.
Mrs Selina CHOW moved to adjourn debate on the motion. She explained that she had acted in response to the request from
some new Members for more time to study and understand the details of the rules.
The President proposed the question on Mrs Selina CHOW's motion to adjourn debate.
Mr FUNG Kin-kee spoke. Mr Edward HO interrupted and raised a point of order. Mr Edward HO pointed out that Mr
FUNG Kin-kee should speak on the motion to adjourn the debate and not on the original motion.
Mr FUNG Kin-kee continued and questioned the need to delay the passing of the Rules of Procedure.
The President invited Mrs Selina CHOW to reply. Mrs Selina CHOW replied and reiterated that the whole purpose of
postponing the debate on the motion was to allow Members to have more time to study the proposed Rules of Procedure.
Mr LIU Sing-lee asked for a break of three minutes. The President said that there was no apparent need for a break.
One Member sought clarification on the timing for the resumption of the debate. Upon the President's invitation, Mrs Selina
CHOW responded and stressed that it would be as soon as practicable.
Question on Mrs Selina CHOW's motion to adjourn debate put. Members voted by voices.
Mr FUNG Kin-kee claimed a division.
The President advised that since all Members were present, she would proceed with the voting by a show of hands without
having to wait for the division bell to ring for three minutes. Mr FUNG Kin-kee questioned the decision to waive the three
minutes and remarked that this would set a bad precedent for future meetings. The President explained that in the absence of
an agreed set of Rules of Procedure for the Council, she had determined certain basic rules to follow, including allowing the
division bell to ring for three minutes so that Members who were not sitting in the Main Hall would have time to return and
cast their votes. Since all Members were already present, she did not regard that there was a need to stick to the three-minute
waiting time.
The President asked Members to indicate by a show of hands in the order of whether they were in favour of, against, and in
abstention of the motion. 49 Members voted in favour of the motion; 5 Members voted against; and 3 Members were in
abstention. (Voting record at Appendix I.) The President declared that Mrs Selina CHOW's motion to adjourn debate was
carried.
Mr FUNG kin-kee asked if the adjournment of the debate on the motion had any effect on the earlier resolution on Mr IP
Kwok-him's motion on the registration of Members' interests. The President said that the earlier resolution would remain in
force until the Rules of Procedure, in which rules on the registration of Members' interests had been incorporated, were
endorsed by the Council.
Operation of the Finance Committee, House Committee and Committee on Members' Interests
Mrs Selina CHOW requested the withdrawal of the motion as the effect of this motion was dependent on the passing of the
motion on the Rules of Procedure, the debate of which had been adjourned.
The President announced that the motion be so withdrawn.
Next meeting
The President advised that the Council would resume on 12 April 1997 and the meeting was likely to last for a whole day.
The meeting was adjourned at 12 noon.
(Mrs Rita FAN)
President
9 April 1997
Huaxia Art Centre
Shenzhen
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