No need for formal consultation over law against national anthem abuse, says Hong Kong leader
Carrie Lam also urges residents not to worry about government bill, insisting it only targets people who deliberately insult March of the Volunteers
Hong Kong’s leader on Saturday dismissed calls for a public consultation on a contentious bill designed to curb abuse of the national anthem, urging city residents not to worry about the proposed law.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said calling something a public consultation is merely a “label”, and that there was little left to discuss.
Lam was speaking a day after the government unveiled the legislative framework, which would localise the Beijing-imposed national anthem law and make insulting or distorting March of the Volunteers punishable by a maximum fine of HK$50,000 and three years in prison.
“The Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau has planned to move the bill in July and members of the public can keep expressing their views in the coming three and four months. It is also the common practice of the legislature’s bills committee to listen to public views ... after the first and second reading of the bill, and that is part of the consultation,” Lam said.
“I do not understand why one has to insist on the term ‘public consultation’.”
Calling the term merely a “label” applied by some, Lam said it was already incumbent on the city to pass local legislation mirroring the national law, which the National People’s Congress Standing Committee has inserted into Annex 3 of the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution.