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Information kept by Public Records Office
Following is a question by the Hon Ho Chun-yan and a written reply by the acting Chief Secretary, Mr Michael Suen, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday);
Question:
It is learnt that the Government Records Service Division at present still keeps certain undisclosed records, which include information on the military yen and other administrative measures during the Japanese Occupation. These records have been classified as confidential documents, such that even the index of these documents is not disclosed. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether, given the implementation of the Code on Access to Information, the Government has given consideration to disclosing the relevant documents, so that the public can know about the valuable historical records of Hong Kong during the Japanese Occupation; if so, what the outcome is; if not, why not?
Reply:
The Public Records Office (PRO) holds a small collection of war-time records relating to finance, land, social development, citizenship and economy. We apply the spirit of the Code on Access to Information (the Code) to the archival stock in the PRO in the same way as we do to information held in other government departments or agencies. The public have direct access to all open records in the PRO. There is also provision for members of the public to apply to the Government Records Service Director for access to records which are classified as "closed records". Any such application will be considered carefully, with due regard to the provisions of the Code, and to the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance in the case of records which contain personal data. Any member of the public who is interested in the history of Hong Kong is welcome to contact the Public Records Office for assistance.
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