LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ─ 30 June 2011 13249 OFFICIAL RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Thursday, 30 June 2011 The Council continued to meet at Nine o'clock MEMBERS PRESENT: THE PRESIDENT THE HONOURABLE JASPER TSANG YOK-SING, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE ALBERT HO CHUN-YAN THE HONOURABLE LEE CHEUK-YAN THE HONOURABLE FRED LI WAH-MING, S.B.S., J.P. DR THE HONOURABLE MARGARET NG THE HONOURABLE JAMES TO KUN-SUN THE HONOURABLE CHEUNG MAN-KWONG THE HONOURABLE CHAN KAM-LAM, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE MRS SOPHIE LEUNG LAU YAU-FUN, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE LEUNG YIU-CHUNG DR THE HONOURABLE PHILIP WONG YU-HONG, G.B.S. THE HONOURABLE LAU KONG-WAH, J.P. THE HONOURABLE LAU WONG-FAT, G.B.M., G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE MIRIAM LAU KIN-YEE, G.B.S., J.P. 13250 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ─ 30 June 2011 THE HONOURABLE EMILY LAU WAI-HING, J.P. THE HONOURABLE ANDREW CHENG KAR-FOO THE HONOURABLE TAM YIU-CHUNG, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE ABRAHAM SHEK LAI-HIM, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE LI FUNG-YING, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE TOMMY CHEUNG YU-YAN, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE FREDERICK FUNG KIN-KEE, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE AUDREY EU YUET-MEE, S.C., J.P. THE HONOURABLE VINCENT FANG KANG, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE WONG KWOK-HING, M.H. THE HONOURABLE LEE WING-TAT THE HONOURABLE JEFFREY LAM KIN-FUNG, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE ANDREW LEUNG KWAN-YUEN, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE CHEUNG HOK-MING, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE WONG TING-KWONG, B.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE RONNY TONG KA-WAH, S.C. THE HONOURABLE CHIM PUI-CHUNG PROF THE HONOURABLE PATRICK LAU SAU-SHING, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE KAM NAI-WAI, M.H. THE HONOURABLE CYD HO SAU-LAN LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ─ 30 June 2011 13251 THE HONOURABLE STARRY LEE WAI-KING, J.P. DR THE HONOURABLE LAM TAI-FAI, B.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE CHAN HAK-KAN THE HONOURABLE PAUL CHAN MO-PO, M.H., J.P. THE HONOURABLE CHAN KIN-POR, J.P. DR THE HONOURABLE PRISCILLA LEUNG MEI-FUN DR THE HONOURABLE LEUNG KA-LAU THE HONOURABLE WONG SING-CHI THE HONOURABLE WONG KWOK-KIN, B.B.S. THE HONOURABLE IP WAI-MING, M.H. THE HONOURABLE IP KWOK-HIM, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE MRS REGINA IP LAU SUK-YEE, G.B.S., J.P. DR THE HONOURABLE PAN PEY-CHYOU THE HONOURABLE PAUL TSE WAI-CHUN DR THE HONOURABLE SAMSON TAM WAI-HO, J.P. THE HONOURABLE LEUNG KWOK-HUNG THE HONOURABLE TANYA CHAN THE HONOURABLE ALBERT CHAN WAI-YIP THE HONOURABLE WONG YUK-MAN 13252 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ─ 30 June 2011 MEMBERS ABSENT: IR DR THE HONOURABLE RAYMOND HO CHUNG-TAI, S.B.S., S.B.ST.J., J.P. DR THE HONOURABLE DAVID LI KWOK-PO, G.B.M., G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE WONG YUNG-KAN, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE TIMOTHY FOK TSUN-TING, G.B.S., J.P. DR THE HONOURABLE JOSEPH LEE KOK-LONG, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE CHEUNG KWOK-CHE THE HONOURABLE ALAN LEONG KAH-KIT, S.C. PUBLIC OFFICERS ATTENDING: THE HONOURABLE STEPHEN LAM SUI-LUNG, G.B.S., J.P. SECRETARY FOR CONSTITUTIONAL AND MAINLAND AFFAIRS PROF THE HONOURABLE K C CHAN, S.B.S., J.P. SECRETARY FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES AND THE TREASURY THE HONOURABLE GREGORY SO KAM-LEUNG, J.P. SECRETARY FOR COMMERCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT MISS ADELINE WONG CHING-MAN, J.P. UNDER SECRETARY FOR CONSTITUTIONAL AND MAINLAND AFFAIRS CLERKS IN ATTENDANCE: MISS ODELIA LEUNG HING-YEE, ASSISTANT SECRETARY GENERAL MRS PERCY MA, ASSISTANT SECRETARY GENERAL LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ─ 30 June 2011 13253 BILLS Committee Stage CHAIRMAN (in Cantonese): Good morning, Members. We now continue to examine the Committee stage amendments to the Communications Authority Bill. Does any Member wish to speak? COMMUNICATIONS AUTHORITY BILL MS CYD HO (in Cantonese): Chairman, with the prevalence of information and computer technology, coupled with fibre transmission of information and data, and the mushrooming of social networks on the Internet, the development of information technology has toppled the living of people in modern days over the past three decades, changing our way of living substantially and enabling us to transcend the limits of time and space in engaging in real-time exchange of information with different places on Earth. It is a product which has brought the most significant changes to the living of human beings, so to speak, since the invention of the steam engine. Yet, technology and software are both neutral, and what matters most is the contents. Take the recent Jasmine Revolution that started in North Africa and the Middle East and the change of political power in Tunisia as examples. The Revolution in Egypt was taken forward through Twitter, and a key figure of this movement is a professional in the Internet information technology sector. This is why any tyrannical government is very afraid of it, for what they fear most is the public and the civil society making use of this powerful platform and weapon to hold debates and exchange information. It may still be easy to deal with the parliamentary assembly as it holds debates on the physical premises of the parliament building, and even in times of a coup d'etat, all it takes is to send people to besiege the parliament building or carry out all kinds of political lobbying and when enough votes are secured, any barbarous act may probably take place. However, it is not that easy to deal with the civil society and the people. When they grasp the full picture of what is going on, and when they find out the barbarous act of the government after 13254 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ─ 30 June 2011 mature discussions for a period of time, they can exchange information and form an alliance and by then, the force hence rallied is not that easy to …… CHAIRMAN (in Cantonese): Ms HO, do you know that we are examining clause 4 and the relevant amendments to it? MS CYD HO (in Cantonese): Yes, I know. I am speaking on the question of independence. Chairman, it is precisely because this platform is so powerful that many governments hope to keep it under control. Therefore, I will support the amendment proposed by Dr Margaret NG to add a provision on independence. Meanwhile, I also support Ms Emily LAU's amendment which proposes to add a provision on upholding the freedom of the press and freedom of expression. In fact, as both Members stated very clearly yesterday, the members to be appointed should be upholding public interest in their actual operation in accordance with their functions. The Bill has also included a provision under the functions of the Communications Authority (CA) requiring the CA to act in a manner consistent with the provisions of the Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance. But why do the two Members still have to state the obvious by including such words as "independent" and "freedom of expression" in the Bill? It is precisely because the Government has told too many lies recently, thus making it necessary to include what is originally unnecessary in the Bill. Let us take a look at what Secretary Stephen LAM said yesterday when he explained the reasons why consultation was unnecessary on the abolition of the by-election mechanism. He went so far as to say that there had already been the element of consultation for the greater part of the year. He said that the question of Members resigning to initiate a de facto referendum had been discussed for many times in the Legislative Council and so, no further consultation would be necessary. How outrageous it is that these remarks were made by him. What we really need is some clear, explicit wording. But the performance of the Government and the decadence of the institutions have made it necessary for us not only to state it very clearly just once or to consider it acceptable because it is understood to exist in nature, but we must state it even more clearly once again and repeat it the legislation. This is actually a symbol of the decadence of the LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ─ 30 June 2011 13255 institutions. People who understand the law will know that the drafting of laws should primarily be as simple as possible and that no repetition should be made as long as the provisions are written clearly, or else it may easily lead to more confusions. But why do we still have to do this? It is precisely because we have indeed totally lost confidence in the Government. Chairman, other than the reason that great political powers are hidden in the information technology platform, colossal pecuniary interest is also involved in it. I believe in present-day society, each person now pays over $100 to $200 in monthly charges for communications technology services in one way or another. Whether it is telephone charges or domestic pay television or broadband Internet access charges, substantial commercial interests are involved. We are, at present, in the process of scrutinizing the Competition Bill, and we are concerned that if the work performance of the CA would be unsatisfactory and biased in future, the freedom of expression and economic development in Hong Kong would be adversely affected. Moreover, the channels for making contact with the public are a source of information that many organizations would like to access.