Hong Kong’s dead being left out in the cold: advocates demand fairer public columbarium system
New regulations to force unlicensed columbarium operators to close, leaving 300,000 to find a new venue
Campaigners have urged the Hong Kong government to improve access to public columbarium niches as the industry warned that draft legislation may threaten to displace up to 300,000 urns now housed in private facilities.
Alliance for Concern over Columbarium Policy convenor Eddie Tse Sai-kit said the existing lottery system of allocating public niches needed to be improved so people who have been waiting longer have a higher chance of securing a place.
The call came on Tuesday, when hundreds of thousands of people visited and swept the graves of their ancestors on the annual Ching Ming Festival and a week before the Legislative Council is set to debate the Private Columbaria Bill.
The bill aims to regulate the operation of private niches through a licensing system.
Tse called on the government to increase the proportion of public niches to 80 per cent of all places from the current 55 per cent, or 470,000 out of 860,000.