Page:Hong Kong Basic Law consultation report vol. 1.djvu/40

 opinions of people from various sectors on the Basic Law. The methods it adopts for collecting opinions from members of the public are not altogether passive. In the past few years, the CCBL organized activities such as public-hearings, meet-the-public sessions, to actively collect the opinions of people in Hong Kong.

5.1.2.2 The CCBL members themselves are quite representative in consulting people from different social strata. One cannot say that it is impossible to assess the opinions of people in Hong Kong without conducting a public opinion poll.

5.1.2.3 Some of the drafters indicated that they did take some of the opinion polls as reference when formulating the political model but their effort received much criticism. The CCBL may also have to shoulder such a burden in future.

5.1.2.4 The neutrality of the CCBL has always been questioned. Hence, a survey conducted by a marketing research company commissioned by the CCBL will be criticized regardless of the survey results.

5.1.2.5 Whatever the opinion poll results obtained by the CCBL are, if the Drafting Committee does not take specific actions accordingly, the CCBL will be regarded as a consultative organization not taken seriously by the Drafting Committee. This will exert pressure on both the CCBL and the Drafting Committee.

5.1.2.6 A public opinion poll conducted by the CCBL only means that the CCBL will commission a marketing research company to conduct the opinion poll. The CCBL itself is unlikely to or should not get involved in the actual survey. Hence, the role played by the CCBL in a public opinion poll is not different from that played by any other organization or body.

5.1.2.7 The aim of having an opinion poll conducted by the CCBL is not clear. There are many different proposals. Regarding the carrying out of a public opinion poll by the CCBL, different parties put forward different views on different occasions and at different times: some are of the opinion that a survey on the controversial issues relating to the political structure alone would suffice; some are in favour of conducting a comprehensive survey on every part of the Basic Law (Draft); and some propose that the survey should be on the acceptability of the entire Draft to the public. If the CCBL resolves to conduct a sample survey, it will have to decide on the scope of the survey. Since the CCBL is composed of people of different political views and from various sectors, it will be very difficult to make this decision.