Mr. Martin LEE : Sir, why were Members of this Council kept in
the dark until after the publication of an article in the Asian
Wall Street Journal on 17 March 1987 of the fact that for many,
many years the Government censoring authority had been
censoring films without legal authority as per the legal
opinions received from the Attorney General's Chambers from
time to time?
Chief Secretary : Sir, as I mentioned in my previous answer
and I am reading here from an extract of notes of a meeting of
the OMELCO Standing Panel on Public Relations held on 20 August
1986: "It was discussed with members of that panel that the
regulations under which the Film Censor was then currently
operating were not defined legally and with due authority".
Mr. HUI : Sir, how would Government tackle
tackle the situation if
uncensored films are now shown to the public before appropriate
legislation is enacted by this Council, since the film
distributors know now that the present censorship system is
lacking legislative support?
Chief Secretary: Sir, the existing scheme continues in force
until a court decides that our present regulations are without
effect or until it is replaced by legislative arrangements that
are free from doubt.