Liberal Party backs suspending copyright bill debate; Police concede baton case an “assault”; More on vote rigging.
Photo: Chris Lusher
Gov’t & LegCo
More pro-est lawmakers hold back on copyright bill
– Liberal Party said they backed Wong Kwok-kin of the pro-est Federation of Trade Unions in his call to withdraw the copyright amendment bill (ch) for another round of public consultation ahead of the LegCo debate on Wednesday
– Michael Tien of New People’s Party also said he wouldn’t mind if the debate was delayed
– Meanwhile, Copyright Tribunal deputy chairman Anthony Tong Tat-hay said the three additional exemptions that pan-dems proposed, namely on user-generated content, fair use and no contract override, were to broad
Police force concedes complaint over baton assault case substantiated
– The force conceded that an accusation against retired superintendent Franklin Chu of assaulting a passer-by with his baton during the Umbrella Movement was substantiated and agreed to revise its earlier report that stated the opposite
– The Complaints Against Police Office will continue to seek legal advice from the Department of Justice over whether any criminal offence was involved
Rimsky Yuen: Fears over annexing mainland law for high-speed rail link co-location arrangements “groundless and pointless”
– Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen reiterated the legal justification of adding mainland law into the Basic Law Annex III to allow mainland immigration officers to exercise their duties at the Hong Kong Express Rail Link West Kowloon terminus and dismissed lawmakers’ fears that all mainland laws would thereby be annexed
– Yuen stressed the proposal was only one of the options and pledged not to sacrifice “one country, two systems” for economic returns
Politics (General)
DAB newly elected district councillor accused of vote rigging
– DAB’s Kwok Fu-yung, who was newly elected as district councillor of Tai Pak Tin constituency in Kwai Tsing, was accused of vote rigging
– Apple Daily reported (ch) that a flat of Kwok’s election campaign volunteer in Tai Pak Tin was home to six votes with five different surnames
– An elderly people living in the nearby Shek Lei South constituency also reportedly gave permission to Kwok to change his address to one in Tai Pak Tin after receiving gifts from Kwok
– At least 40 former Shek Lei South constituents changed to a Tai Pak Tin address before the last district council elections
– Kwok won 2884 votes, beating democrat veteran Tsui Sang-hung who held the seat for more than 20 years and got his personal best of 1997 votes in the last election
School associations reiterate request to suspend upcoming TSA exams
– The Aided Primary School Heads Association and the Subsidised Primary School Council renewed their call to suspend the upcoming TSA exams in next June and requested a direct dialogue with the government over the controversy
– The Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union (HKPTU) earlier slammed the Education Bureau for putting the responsibility of over-drilling on schools following a Friday statement urging schools to cancel all extra TSA classes
– The HKPTU also called on teachers and students to boycott the exams
Hong Kong’s top judges, lawyers argue over the value of judicial reviews
– Chairwoman of the Hong Kong Bar Association Winnie Tam joined the side of former Chief Justice Andrew Li in arguing that judicial reviews should be viewed in a positive way that the public are allowed a channel to challenge the government
– Li and Tam’s remarks came after retired Court of Final Appeal judge Henry Litton raised concern over an abuse of the judicial review mechanism, who accused in particular former head of University of Hong Kong’s student union Yvonne Leung in her bid to halt the electoral reform
