The "Implementation of Article 23 of the Basic Law" website set up by the Security Bureau 20 years ago was suddenly shut down a few days ago without an announcement.
When the government responded to media-related inquiries, it stated that because the authorities were now re-preparing legislation, it was necessary to temporarily shut down the website in question for an update, but did not specify the date for closing, updating and reopening the website.
In addition, the former Chief Executive Carrie Lam's social media account has also been deleted, but the original public content on the page is said to have not been transferred to the Government Records Office or archived separately.
In recent years, the government has repeatedly deleted or updated the contents of the website that were previously disclosed to the public without prior notice or subsequent notice.
For example, in the case of the "three changes to the draft" concerning the status of the Liaison Office in Hong Kong the previous year, the authorities never explained the time when the first press release deleted the sentence related to Article 22 of the Basic Law; The name of the country "Republic", after the correction of many of the same errors on the website in previous years, also did not mark the update date or make another announcement.
The Hong Kong government has mistakenly named the country as "People's Republic of China" more than once in the past.
If there is evidence, it must be publicly explained
Regarding the closure of the legislative website of Article 23 of the Basic Law, there are certain reasons for the decision.
First of all, the website of the "Implementation of Article 23 of the Basic Law" is completely designed in accordance with the old standard and does not meet the current requirements of "responsive web design". Therefore, it needs to be updated purely from a technical point of view, and various government departments Over the past year or so, the Legislative Council website has indeed been refurbished to keep up with this requirement.
Furthermore, updating the outdated content on the "Implementation of Article 23 of the Basic Law" website will undoubtedly reduce the tendency for the public to misunderstand in the future legislative process.
In fact, before and after the enactment of the "Hong Kong National Security Law" the year before last, there were some people in the market who misrepresented the "National Security (Legislative Provisions) Bill" as the content of the "Hong Kong National Security Law".
Since the current government intends to legislate for Article 23 of the Basic Law, it is understandable to temporarily shut down relevant websites to avoid chaos.
Nonetheless, justification does not mean that the decision can be kept from the public.
For example, almost all mobile games and their websites on the market, most of them will announce to players the time of downtime for maintenance or report text correction events, which are often not the mandatory requirements of the operators on the terms of the agreement.
It stands to reason that government services and websites that involve social interests are naturally more responsible for providing such an arrangement to ensure the public's right to know, but the fact is the opposite, which is ridiculous.
The government has long stated that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has the responsibility to safeguard national security. This responsibility is fulfilled through local legislation in accordance with Article 23 of the Basic Law.
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Government records laws are equally important
What's more, the aforementioned incidents seem to reflect that the government is not serious about updating websites that are open to the public.
In April 2020, the Audit Commission released the report "Government's Implementation of Electronic Records Storage System", which pointed out that "the work of archiving government websites and social media accounts can be improved", "The Electronic Records Management Standards issued by the Government Records Service Guidance on file management and archiving on government websites or social media platforms is lacking.”
Here is another example of the lack of uniform archiving standards for government website archives.
Also the former Chief Executive's election platform, Leung Chun-ying's platform file is still in the directory of the Chief Executive's website, but Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor's platform file has been deleted. Ironically, the latter even mentioned "I attach importance to the integrity of government files and do not It has a positive attitude towards the establishment of an archives law, and when the Law Reform Commission submits a report after extensive consultation, the government will actively follow up.
The Law Reform Commission (LRC) has earlier issued consultation papers on the Archives Act and the Access to Information Act.
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The Archives Law and Article 23 of the Basic Law are both legislative responsibilities that the SAR Government has not dealt with for a long time. The loopholes in local laws they have left are also urgently needed to be improved.
Although the latter is a constitutional responsibility with a higher priority, the Law Reform Commission has completed the consultation in 2019, and it should be relatively easy to deal with. I hope the SAR government will not actively follow up because the legislative direction is self-regulation.
The Hong Kong government, which even got the country name wrong, tampered with the press release to reveal the three "nos" of Hong Kong government officials. The new government should come up with a five-year plan as soon as possible
