Saturday, 08-Feb-2003 10:10PM Story from AFP

HONG KONG, Feb 9 (AFP) - Democratic Party leader Yeung Sum on Sunday accused the Hong Kong government of engaging in "distortion" of public views submitted over controversial proposed national security laws.

The party's own views submitted during the public consultation period had been categorised as being both against the controversial laws and "not identified" as either for or against, when it was clearly opposed to them, he said.

Yeung said even using the government's own categorisation process, those opposed to introducing the laws still outnumbered supporters of the anti-subversion legislation.

Under Article 23 of the Basic Law -- Hong Kong's mini-constitution -- the former British colony is obliged to pass laws banning treason, sedition, subversion and the theft of state secrets.

Yeung said security secretary Regina Ip had summarised the consultation by claiming about 70 percent of respondents supported the legislation by dismissing signatures opposing the laws as "untrustworthy".

"What is 'untrustworthy' is not the signatures. It is the government itself, " he said during a local radio programme.

Ip said last month 97,097 local submissions involving 340,513 signatures had been received during the consultation which ended December 24.

"The government has gone from wrong to wrong, from proposing to introduce such draconian laws in the first place, to outright distortion of public opinion and manipulation of public consensus when public opinion is not on the government's side," Yeung said.

He noted thousands have taken to the streets to demonstrate against the laws and to call for a white paper, a detailed draft of the proposed law.

"We hereby call for a second round of consultation with detailed proposals in the form of a white bill," he said.

The government announced last month a watering-down of the proposed security laws, which it has been required to pass since Hong Kong's return to China in 1997.

Changes included an exemption for foreign nationals from prosecution for treason.

The offence of seditious publication was also abolished and the definition of "unauthorised access" to information was narrowed, but the proposal to ban groups outlawed in mainland China on national security grounds was retained.

The proposed laws have sparked widespread concern that basic rights would be curtailed in Hong Kong. [...]

http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/ct/Qhongkong-subversion.RQM7_DF9.html