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SCMP Reporter

HONG KONG had a series of ''extreme and arbitrary'' legislation repugnant to the rule of law, a former United States attorney-general said yesterday.

  Dick Thornburgh said it was ''an extraordinary irony'' the territory had not amended such sweeping powers.

  At an American Chamber of Commerce luncheon, he strongly urged the immediate review of such laws before 1997.

  Mr Thornburgh and a delegation representing the Republican Party's National Endowment for Democracy group are in Hong Kong this week to file a ''snapshot'' report on the status of the rule of law.

  Yesterday, they met the Governor, Chris Patten, to raise their concerns.

  Mr Thornburgh said the most repressive laws appeared to be the Emergency Regulations Ordinance - ''the mother of all such ordinances'' - the Summary Offences Ordinance, the Official Secrets Act, the Crimes Ordinance dealing with treason and sedition and the Public Order Ordinance.

  ''The continued existence of these ordinances presents an extraordinary irony,'' he said.

  ''The same legal culture that influenced the development of Hong Kong's civil society and its independent judiciary simultaneously empowered itself with extreme and arbitrary instruments.

  ''This has created a paradoxical situation of laws which are clearly contrary to the rule of law.

  ''This strange situation arose because the laws were made through a process not recognised as truly democratic.

  ''Moreover, these provisions enshrine in law the very principle the rule of law is designed to guard against - the assignment of unlimited, arbitrary powers in the executive.''   Mr Thornburgh said the promotion of the rule of law was vital to supporting ''economic genius'' and said the territory had the most advanced legal system in Asia.

   He responded tersely to suggestions China might not take kindly to his comments.

  ''We believe in the rule of law in the United States,'' he said.

  ''We believe in the rule of law for Americans, we believe in the rule of law for Chinese, for people in Hong Kong, for Russians; for people throughout the world.

  ''It is, I would suggest to you, our most valuable export.''   The Law Society secretary, Patrick Moss, last night said he was surprised the legal system had been painted in such ''colourful'' terms.

  ''It is the threat rather than the reality that seems to have been of concern to him,'' Mr Moss said.

  ''We have got enough to worry about at the moment, I would suggest, without going out and looking for these sort of things.''   Mr Thornburgh was the top law officer between 1988 and 1991 during the presidential terms of Ronald Reagan and George Bush.

    He was then appointed as the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations before deciding to move into private practice.

  He was also a governor of Pennsylvania.

  Mr Thornburgh said his group would report to the US Government on the study tour.

  He said he would ''evaluate how we might play a constructive role in helping Hong Kong in the future''.

  ''In short, economic freedoms aid in protecting political freedoms where they do exist and provide a toe-hold to political freedoms where they do not.'' 



Former US A-G points to irony within law