Bloomberg: Hong Kong Lawyers, Anson Chan Ask Tung to Defer Security Law

(Clearwisdom.net) July 4 (Bloomberg) -- The Hong Kong Law Society and former Chief Secretary Anson Chan urged the government to postpone next week's vote on a new national security law after 500,000 people took to the streets to denounce it as an threat to freedom.

Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa has been closeted in discussions with senior government officials since the protest Tuesday against the proposed law against treason, subversion and sedition, known as Article 23. The turnout at the protest was five times larger than expected.

''It will be very good if the government can see its way clear to deferring the enactment of the law,'' said Chan, the city's former top civil servant, who retains widespread popularity after she resigned in 2001 after 38 years in government. The law is scheduled for a vote on July 9.

''The whole consultation exercise could have been much better handled,'' she said in a phone interview. ''It's not too late now to address the public concerns. We are all waiting to see how the government will react.''

Tung is expected to make a public response today, the South China Morning Post reported. A poll by the newspaper found 17 undecided votes in the block of 36 lawmakers who aren't publicly elected and usually vote with the government. The poll showed 23 of the Legislative Council's 60 lawmakers saying they will vote no on Article 23 and 16 saying they will vote yes. Three lawmakers weren't in the survey.

Disenchantment

This week's protest, held on the sixth anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong to China by Britain, spilled over to a broad range of public criticism of Tung, including economic management that's produced record unemployment and initial bumbling in responding to the SARS epidemic.

To date, the government's only response to the largest public protest in 14 years was a five-paragraph statement in which Tung said he sympathizes with people and will listen more to their concerns. The statement also reaffirmed support for Article 23. Yesterday China told foreign governments not to interfere in Hong Kong's debate over Article 23.

The Hong Kong Law Society said it sent a letter Wednesday to the chief executive requesting him to ''postpone the enactment of certain controversial parts of the bill which warrant further more in-depth consideration.''

''We have reservations on certain parts of the legislation such as the proscription of organizations and additional investigative powers given to the police,'' said Ip Shing Hing, president of the local Law Society. ''It's time for the government to do something to address all these concerns.''

Obsession

The United States, Britain, business groups, civil libertarians and religious organizations have expressed concern that Article 23 may stifle freedoms. Opponents fear that China's obsession with secrecy and its ban on the Roman Catholic Church and group such as the Falun Gong spiritual [group] may be imposed on Hong Kong via the law.

Persuading enough lawmakers to change their view may prove difficult in a Legislative Council that is predominantly pro-China. China said it wants the law enacted.

Still, people power appears to have rattled those who thought passage of the law was a foregone conclusion.

The pro-China Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong, which last month sent a letter to the U.S. Senate saying a majority of Hong Kong citizens supported the new law, may now be backing away from that stance. It has asked the government to remove the legislation's most controversial provisions, TVB television reported last night.

Some members of the party remained steadfast.

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