1991-06-06 10:43
INFORMATION SERVICES DEPT
IS
852 521 7725 F. 01/13
MEDIA SUMMARY
Media Research Sub-Division, Government Information Services
From: DIS (Mark Pinkstone, OPRS)
All Overseas Offices
Date : 6 June 1991
Page: /3
Log No.: OPRS/ L / 268
THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 1991
OVERVIEW
HKC241/5
The agreement by the US to set up a holding centre in a bid to resolve the VM problem topped media coverage today, with the two English-language dailies using the development as the front-page lead. All major papers also gave extensive and prominent coverage to the passage of the Hong Kong Bill of Rights Bill in Legco and the clash between the Police and petitioners outside the Legco Building yesterday.
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CHINESE MEDIA
BILL OF RIGHTS
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Legco yesterday passed a Bill of Rights for HK, the media reported in prominent coverage. The news was carried in the lead stories of Tin Tin Daily News, the HK Times and Wah Kiu Yat Po. It was the back-page lead in Sing Pao and the HK Daily News.
The Bill would become law on Saturday. The reports noted that there would be a one-year freeze on six ordinances during which the ordinances would be exempted from complying with the provisions of the Bill of Rights.
It was also played up in some reports that the Chief Secretary, Sir David Ford, said that the Bill was to enable the two relevant international convenants to be applied to HK more effectively and there was no conflict with the Joint Declaration or the Basic Law. He said that the Government considered that it would not be necessary to set up a Human Rights Commission. An advisory body should be set up instead.
Reactions: Some reports quoted a HKU lecturer, Johannes Chan, as saying that one year had passed since the Bill of Rights was published for consultation and the Government had done nothing to amend, the controversial provisions that might contravene the Bill of Rights. He doubted whether he would see any sweeping legislative changes during the one-year freeze.
Meanwhile, TVB learnt that the Bill of Rights was not on the agenda of the coming round of JLG meetings.
Some reports quoted K.C. Tsui of the legal sector as saying that the fact that the one-year freeze was still needed showed that the Government had been working too slowly and had not done enough to ensure that the six ordinances in question would be in line with the Bill of Rights.