24 June 2003 Dear Fellow Engineer URGENT The National Security

24 June 2003

Dear Fellow Engineer URGENT

The National Security (Legislative Provisions) Bill

The captioned Bill will be put to the vote in the Legislative Council very soon. I write to seek your views which will form the basis of my voting position.

The Bill, which implements Article 23 of the Basic Law, was introduced into the Legislative Council in February 2003 after a three-month public consultation period. The Bill proposes to provide for -

a. the offences of treason, subversion, secession and sedition;
b. the prohibition of unauthorized disclosure of certain official information;
c. the proscription of certain organizations if it is necessary in the interests of national security and is proportionate for such purpose;
d. the power of entry, search, seizure, detention and removal by the police without warrant for the investigation of treason, subversion, secession, sedition and handling seditious publication;
e. the election of trial by jury in respect of sedition by inciting violent public disorder, handling seditious publication and any of the offences of unlawful disclosure;
f. the removal of existing time limit for prosecution of offences; and
g. related, incidental and consequential amendments.

Early this month, the government announced a series of draft amendments to the Bill which include the following:-

1. Extending guarantees of rights and freedoms

The Bill provides in three places that the interpretation, application and enforcement of the relevant provisions must be consistent with Article 39 of the Basic Law which enshrines international human rights standards. The government proposes to extend these safeguards to refer to Chapter III of the Basic Law. The Chapter provides for various constitutional guarantees on rights and freedoms. It also proposes to extend the coverage of the safeguards to the entire Official Secrets Ordinance.

2. Further tightening of sedition offences

The government proposes to introduce the element of "likelihood" into the sedition offence. As a result, a person could only commit the sedition offence if he intentionally incites others to commit the specified crimes endangering the state, and when the crimes incited are likely to occur.

3. Removal of overlap between proscription mechanisms

The government proposes to delete the reference to "national security" from the existing section 8, such that all proscriptions on national security grounds would be taken under the proposed section 8A.

4. Special procedures for appeals against proscription

It is proposed that the Secretary for Security should be empowered to make regulations governing the special appeal arrangements. These regulations would be subject to vetting by the Legislative Council before coming into effect.

5. Three-year prosecution time limit for seditious publications

A time limit of three years is proposed for the prosecution of the offence of handling seditious publications, after taking into account practical requirements in investigating the crimes.

6. Authorization of emergency powers limited to the Assistant Commissioner level or above.

The rank of police officers that can authorize such powers to be further raised to the Assistant Commissioner level or above.

Considering the controversial nature of the Bill, I see the need to take this additional step to invite your views on the subject. As you may be aware, engineers have been invited to give their opinions on issues of their concerns from time to time through my LegCo News published monthly in “Hong Kong Engineer” and my webpage. Informal consultation is also conducted during my frequent contacts with fellow engineers on various occasions throughout the year.

Should you have any opinions on the National Security (Legislative Provisions) Bill, please let me know by fax to 2570 5838 or e-mail to rctho@capitalchina.com before 8 July 2003.

Yours faithfully

(signed)
Ir Dr Raymond Ho Chung-tai