Legco gets no response

NOBODY has responded to the public consultation exercise on the code of conduct for legislators.

Chief Assistant Secretary of the Legislative Council Secretariat Law Wing-lok said they had no submissions after the one-month consultation period closed yesterday.

The code, drafted by the Legco Committee on Members' Interests, was drawn up in the wake of the outcry over legislator Timothy Ha Wing-ho's use of taxpayers' money to buy things like a camera lens and an electronic Bible.

Mr Law denied they had not done enough to publicise the exercise. The consultation papers were only available at the Legco Chamber Building.

He said it would be costly to distribute the papers to the district offices or run advertisements.

Mr Law believed the lack of response was because the subject was not of special interest to the public.

He noted a press conference had already been held and the issue was brought up in a RTHK programme last week.

He doubted whether an extension of the consultation period would attract people to air their views.

But a researcher at the Hong Kong University, Robert Chung Ting-yiu, said this was an important issue and suggested canvassing views through a survey or holding group discussions. He said a more active approach should be taken.