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AFP (Agence France-Presse): Hong Kong government "fixed subversion law consultation results" Wednesday, 05-Feb-2003 HONG KONG, Feb 5 (AFP) - The Democratic Party accused the Hong Kong administration Wednesday of
fixing the results of public consultation on controversial proposed anti-subversion laws. The party's own submission had been categorised as being neither for nor against the proposed
laws, when it was clearly opposed to them, party chairman Yeung Sum said. Yeung accused the government of "political calculation" to show that those who agreed
with the legislation outnumbered those against the laws, which rights groups fear could curtail
basic freedoms. "I think this is unacceptable," he told local radio. He said a second consultation on the proposed national security legislation, set to go into
effect mid-year, was now required. Meanwhile legislator Cyd Ho filed a complaint with the ombudsman to demand an investigation into
how submissions for the national security laws were handled. She accused the government of failing to account for some 175,000 signatures and other opinions
offered during the three-month consultation period. This "made the community feel cheated by the administration," she said. Security secretary Regina Ip said last month 97,097 local submissions involving 340,513
signatures had been received during the consultation which ended December 24. The government announced last month a watering-down of the proposed security laws, which the
former British colony has been required to pass since its 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 on the mainland on
national security grounds was retained. The proposed laws have sparked widespread concern that basic rights will be curtailed in Hong
Kong. Mass protests were staged in December both for and against them. http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/bt/Qhongkong-subversion.R7Pe_DF5.html Posting date: 2/6/2003
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