Time to revamp Hong Kong's neglected district councils

While the current public discussion on political reform in Hong Kong focuses on the methods for electing the chief executive and Legislative Council, an examination of how our district councils function seems to have been neglected.

At most, there has been some discussion centred on whether district councillors should join the Election Committee selecting the chief executive, although they can already, from last year, nominate candidates running for the "super seats" in the Legco direct elections.

Arguably, there's a narrow focus on how to help politicians climb the ladder from the districts to the upper levels of Hong Kong politics.

Still, this all ignores the issue of how to rejuvenate the work of district councils, whose operation appears to have lost its sense of purpose in recent years. District councils were established in 1982 (then called district boards) and today are supposed to advise the government on district affairs, among other issues. Yet, although some principal officials during Donald Tsang Yam-kuen's tenure did consult with various district councillors, such sessions soon became irregular. T he Leung Chun-ying administration has only occasionally held such sessions.

But if consultations between principal officials and district councils on government policies are to go beyond ad hoc meetings, then the process needs to be formalised and institutionalised.

Second, the internal operation of each district council needs reforming.