The SCMP reports…
Hong Kong’s top court has been asked to abolish an “extraordinary” and “inexplicable” law prohibiting calls to boycott the city’s “patriots-only” elections on the grounds that it violates residents’ rights to express disapproval of the political system and to make informed decisions before voting.
A government senior counsel opposed the challenge by former Chinese University of Hong Kong student union president Jacky So Tsun-fung, arguing the law fell outside the scope of constitutional review. He cited Beijing’s decision to address “clear loopholes and deficiencies” in the electoral system after the city’s 2019 anti-government protests.
…So received a suspended jail sentence in December 2022 for reposting a social media message urging Hongkongers to cast blank votes in the Legislative Council election the previous year…
…The Court of First Instance dismissed an appeal stemming from that constitutional challenge last year.
The argument is that the law infringes freedom of speech rights in the Basic Law. So if the Court of Final Appeal wants a ‘loophole’ to avoid addressing this issue, it can maintain that the law ‘falls outside the scope of constitutional review’. It can also accept the government’s invitation to say that the law resulted from NPC decisions and therefore is untouchable.
But by any standards, it is an absurd and illogical piece of legislation. It is legal to abstain from voting; but illegal to ‘incite’ (recommend/urge) others to abstain from doing so. Officials have declared that such recommendation/urging counts as ‘interfering’ in the election. Yet it is legal to recommend/urge that others vote – as the government itself does.
To add to the weirdness, the law is enforced by the ICAC – an agency that is meant to be independent and focused on corruption.
Another twist: by reminding the public of this law whenever elections are underway, officials themselves actually remind everyone that boycotting the ‘patriots-only’ polls is an option (and quite a popular one, judging by the feeble turnout).
Ideally, the CFA would answer the basic question: How can it be a crime to urge people to do something that is not illegal? I am guessing it won’t.
The CFA has already decreed that conspiring to do something explicitly permitted by the Basic Law is a crime, so we are already long past the point where the legal system is coherent. The essence of the new reality is that the law means whatever the party wants it to mean, and can be applied selectively to whomever it wishes to target (see also targetting of bookshop owners for doing something that is done by others dozens of times every single week without prosecution). This is the essence of “Rule by Law” as opposed to “Rule of Law”.
Would be nice if CFA had a spine and showed that they are supposed to be independent for a change instead of a useless ornament that can’t rule on wide scope of matters involving human rights making the constitutional guarantees in the basic law a complete joke.
I would suggest people vote or not vote depending upon their conscience and if they vote they should vote for their preferred candidate
I am so going to hell
@Load Toad – assuming their preferred candidate is allowed to stand in the election.
what about suggesting that people ‘vote’
Slap on the word “AI” and suddenly the media/market applauds like you’ve reinvented computing, rather than just simply announced a planned attrition-led headcount reduction over four years.
Jack Bennett parted the bead curtain with one hand and peeked inside. It was
dark inside with only a few scattered customers.
“Hello Joe” a husky voice said out of nowhere “you come and have a drink in
my bar”. Bennett looked into a pair of almond shaped doe eyes. They were
inscrutable yet inviting. He stepped forward.
He had never been in the Plum Blossom Lounge before. The barman served
his whiskey on the rocks. A glitterball slowly rotated on the ceiling. The sign of
a classy joint, he thought. They even mixed the nuts.
“Hey Joe, you buy me drink, huh ?” the husky voice with the big brown eyes
asked. There she was again, standing next to him, wearing a cheong-sam
with a slit up to her knee. Before he could answer she ran a delicate finger
over the short sleeve of his new safari. “Nice suit, Joe”.
Jack Bennett had heard numerous sailors' tales about the anatomical
peculiarities of Chinese wimmin. But a prominent adam's apple was not one of
them.
Bambi drew her finger teasingly over his hairy, manly arm, past the digital
watch with 5 functions and it came to rest on his upper leg.
“Oh, you so man” she whispered breathlessly.
You too, honey, Jack Bennett thought.
“Can I make friend with you ?” she enquired. “You make love long time to Mei
Ling…….”
(to be continued, no doubt)