Lai See | Government urged to keep umbrella movement records

Archives Action Group has long campaigned for an archives law to enforce good record-keeping and archiving practices in Hong Kong. However, its campaign has fallen on deaf ears within the government despite criticism by the director of audit more than two years ago and the Ombudsman earlier this year.

The criticism from both was damning and you would have thought highly embarrassing for a civil service that takes bureaucratic procedures seriously. The group even presented the government with a draft bill several years ago but to no avail.

The action group has now resorted to trying to increase public awareness of the importance of proper official record keeping in the hope that this will eventually pressure the government into doing something about this long-running scandal. Yesterday, it held a press conference urging the government to preserve its records relating to the umbrella movement.

"This is a historic moment in Hong Kong's history," said William Waung, chairman of the group. "No matter what happens in the future, this is a turning point in Hong Kong." The demonstration has "highlighted some of the key contradictions in Hong Kong society", and it is vital that records relating to these events be properly maintained for future generations.

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As an example of good record keeping, Waung drew attention to the recent New York Times story about British efforts to introduce democracy to Hong Kong. The story quoted an editorial in the People's Daily, which said: "In 150 years, the country that now poses as an exemplar of democracy gave our Hong Kong compatriots not one single day of it."

It added: "Only in the 15 years before the 1997 handover did the British colonial government reveal their 'secret' longing to put Hong Kong on the road to democracy."