The Government announced the reform plan of the District Councils, and the number of directly elected seats was significantly reduced. The Secretary for Home Affairs and Youth Affairs Ms Mak Mei-kuen said today (27 December) that the enhancement of the District Governance Plan to increase the number of District Councillors generated from more channels stressed that it is not to reshape District Councils, but to enhance district effectiveness, and at the same time welcome people of different ages and backgrounds to join, increase the diversity of District Council portfolio, and collect the voices of young people.

Regarding the British Foreign Office's submission of a new semi-annual report on Hong Kong to the British Parliament, concerned that the Hong Kong District Council has significantly reduced the number of directly elected seats, Mak Meijuan retorted that many foreign countries or politicians like to divert their attention when their internal work is not done well, and she described the British as not qualified to talk about the Hong Kong district council system: "Maybe you (Britain) forgot that in fact, I was appointed by you during the Hong Kong and British period, so you should support the appointment system and should not overthrow yesterday's me."

After attending the opening ceremony of the joint office day of the Legislative Council member Chan Wing-yan and the Legislative Council member of the AFL Lam Chun-sang today, Mak Meijuan was asked about the new Hong Kong Semi-Annual Report submitted by the British Foreign Office to Parliament a few days ago, urging the repeal of the National Security Law. Mak Meijuan stressed that the Hong Kong National Security Law is very important to safeguard Hong Kong and its national security, and Hong Kong has the responsibility and obligation to safeguard national security, and called on the UK to do its part: "I have seen many foreign countries or politicians, when the internal work of the country is not done well, they usually like to divert their attention and point to my country, everyone sees that they also have many internal problems, in fact, it is not good to rely on diverting attention, it is better to do their own work first."

Regarding the report's concern about the significant reduction of directly elected seats in Hong Kong's District Councils, Mak Meijuan pointed out that the UK is not qualified to criticize the Hong Kong District Council system, because the Hong Kong British government first introduced the District Council time zone council named "District Board", not "District Council", that is, whether it is a parliament, but just an advisory organization: "I think the UK is even less qualified to say, maybe you forgot, in fact, I was appointed (member) during the British period in Hong Kong, so they should support the appointment system. They should not defeat me yesterday."

The Secretary for Home Affairs and Youth Affairs, Ms Mak Mei-kuen (sixth from left), and the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Tsang Kwok-health (fifth from left), attend the opening ceremony of the Joint Office Day of the Legislative Council Member of the Federation of Trade Unions Chan Wing-yan (third from left) and the Legislative Council Member of the AFL Lam Chun-shing (seventh from left) on 5 May. (Photo by Li Yuting)

On how to find suitable people to serve the public, Ms Mak said that the proposed plan for reshaping the District Council provides multiple channels for the selection of District Councillors, including the appointment of District Councillors, etc., and the appointment will take into account whether the applicant is a patriotic person and a person who loves Hong Kong and is familiar with the community, etc., and mentioned that she hopes that the combination of District Councils will be more diversified to help collect opinions.

Ms Mak said that she is writing and improving the content of the legislation on the regional governance plan, and hopes to submit it to the Legislative Council for the first reading within this month, hoping to pass the relevant legislative amendments before the Legislative Council adjournments and hold district council elections at the end of the year. She added that the preparation for the election is never easy, but the Electoral Affairs Office and colleagues from the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau will work intensively to carry out the preparatory work, including the identification of polling stations, etc., with the assistance of District Commissioners, and believe that the difficulties can be overcome and the election can be conducted in an orderly manner.

In her speech, Ms Mak described the two MPs, Chan Wing-yan and Lam Chun-seng, as "working together" to help special migrant girls in the neighbourhood. She recalled that she used to study in a secondary school near the office, used to be a district youth ambassador, and after graduating from university, she was appointed as an appointed district councillor, and she was able to participate in the work of the district council thanks to the appointment system, and one of the advantages of improving the district governance plan was to provide multiple channels to generate district councillors, so that young and familiar young people who were familiar with the community could join the district work, which was conducive to community building.

▼May 5 The government announced the plan to reorganize the district councils▼

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