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AFP: HK democrat slams govt 'distortion' of public views on security laws
Saturday, 08-Feb-2003 10:10PM Story from AFP HONG KONG, Feb 9 (AFP) - Democratic Party leader Yeung Sum on Sunday accused
the Hong Kong government of engaging in "distortion" of public views submitted
over controversial proposed national security laws. The party's own views submitted during the public consultation period had been
categorised as being both against the controversial laws and "not identified" as
either for or against, when it was clearly opposed to them, he said. Yeung said even using the government's own categorisation process, those opposed
to introducing the laws still outnumbered supporters of the anti-subversion
legislation. Under Article 23 of the Basic Law -- Hong Kong's mini-constitution -- the former
British colony is obliged to pass laws banning treason, sedition, subversion and
the theft of state secrets. Yeung said security secretary Regina Ip had summarised the consultation by
claiming about 70 percent of respondents supported the legislation by dismissing
signatures opposing the laws as "untrustworthy". "What is 'untrustworthy' is not the signatures. It is the government itself, "
he said during a local radio programme. Ip said last month 97,097 local submissions involving 340,513 signatures had
been received during the consultation which ended December 24. "The government has gone from wrong to wrong, from proposing to introduce such
draconian laws in the first place, to outright distortion of public opinion and
manipulation of public consensus when public opinion is not on the government's
side," Yeung said. He noted thousands have taken to the streets to demonstrate against the laws and
to call for a white paper, a detailed draft of the proposed law. "We hereby call for a second round of consultation with detailed proposals in
the form of a white bill," he said. The government announced last month a watering-down of the proposed security
laws, which it has been required to pass since Hong Kong's return to China in
1997. Changes included an exemption for foreign nationals from prosecution for
treason. The offence of seditious publication was also abolished and the definition of "unauthorised
access" to information was narrowed, but the proposal to ban groups outlawed in
mainland China on national security grounds was retained. The proposed laws have sparked widespread concern that basic rights would be
curtailed in Hong Kong. [...] http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/ct/Qhongkong-subversion.RQM7_DF9.html
Posting date: 2/11/2003
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