oranisations, including the diocesan ce & Peace Commission, Young Christian Workers and the Centre for the Progress of Peoples.
The Legislative Council discussed the iss n May. No decision has yet been taken by the government, although Sir David Wilson indicated in his Governor's Speech on October 7th that a compulsory provident fund is not considered to be appropriate for Hong Kong.
The Christian Industrial Committee organised small
a
demonstration outside the Governer's house the following day to protest against the refusal his speech implied.■
PRESS LAW: UPDATE
We reported in our last issue the controversy surrounding the new press law, introduced by the Hong Kong government and approved by the Legislative Council in spite of the fact that its credibility has been demolished by lawyers, and its vague and draconian powers condemned both locally and internationally.
The campaign against 'Section 27' of the Public Order Act continues. We reproduce below the text of a letter sent on September 30 to Sir David Wilson, the Governor. It is signed by six of the principal media organisations in the territory, namely: the Newspaper Society of Hong Kong, the Foreign Correspondents' Club, the Society of Hong Kong Publishers, the Hong Kong Chinese Press Association, the Hong Kong News Executives' Association and the Hong Kong Journalists' Association.
Letter to the Governor
'Your Excellency must be well aware of the
controversy surrounding the stormy passage of Section 27 of the ordinance on 11 March although you were in London at the time. The law proved to be so vague and ambiguous that the Attorney General, Mr Michael Thomas, has found it necessary to issue guidelines to his staff to explain and to clarify some of the circumstances under which the provision may be invoked.
"The guidelines may be reassuring to some journalists and publishers, but the ambiguity of the law remains. Furthermore, since the guidelines have no legal status and could be amended or abandoned by the present or any future Attorney General, they offer little comfort to the journalistic profession.
'In the past few decades, the news media have operated in a relatively free environment in spite of draconian laws in the statute book. We welcome the Government's decision to repeal many of the repressive measures in the Control of Publications Consolidation Ordinance but we object strongly to the decision to transplant the 'false news' provision to the Public Order Ordinance. We also question the need to retain such a provision since it has never been used.
'In the past few months the issue has attracted international attention, with numerous news media organisations expressing concern. Many have spoken out, urging the authorities to repeal the 'false news' provision. Hong Kong's reputation has suffered as a result of the bad publicity. Given the good track record of the news media and the impractical nature of the provision, we ask you to repeal Section 27 as soon as possble.'■
For further information please refer to Hong Kong Link number 6 (June 1987) or write to the Hong Kong Journalists Association, 6A Dannies House, 20 Luard Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong.
TO OUR READERS
The editors would like to apologise because readers did not receive their October issue of Hong Kong Link.
This was due to a series of technical difficulties, which finally so delayed publication that Issue Number 7 threatened to be completely out of date by the time you received it.
we
Upon learning that Martin Lee would lead a Delegation for Democracy to London at the beginning of December, therefore decided to combine the October and December numbers of Hong Kong Link into this special issue.
We hope the topicality of our coverage of the latest news, as well as the fact that we have retained coverage of the main developments since September, will make the delay acceptable.
Hong Kong Link Newsletter is published in London. It provides analysis and news about Hong Kong and the efforts of Hong Kong's people to prepare for their return to China in 1997.
Readers are invited to contribute a minimum of £4.00 per year towards our costs.
We welcome correspondence.
HONG KONG LINK
c/o CIIR, 22 Coleman Fields, London N1 7AF, UK. Tel. (01)354 0883 Telex 21118 G
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