Hongkong Post criticised for refusing to send democracy activists' fliers

The leader of the Hongkong Post employees' union openly criticised the postal service for refusing to mail tens of thousands of leaflets on civil disobedience produced by democracy activists.

Union of Hongkong Post Office Employees chairman Ip Kam-fu accused Hongkong Post of playing politics by refusing to deliver the fliers from the student-led pro-democracy group Scholarism.

When it denied Scholarism's application to mail the fliers, it told Scholarism that the contents breached its ban on "illegal, obscene, immoral, indecent, offensive or libellous writing".

On Commercial Radio yesterday, Ip said: "I see no problem with Scholarism's pamphlets." He said he believed the decision not to distribute them was "a political judgment".

The pamphlet contains a series of questions and answers on civil disobedience, and also explains why genuine universal suffrage goes beyond a one-man, one-vote ballot system.

There is no mention of the Occupy Central movement, which vows to mobilise 10,000 people to block roads in Central if the government fails to offer a reform proposal for the 2017 chief executive election that it finds satisfactory. The government has insisted that the plan is illegal.

People don't have to pay heed to the pamphlets, Ip said. The choice is "very personal".