Petition on Article 23 of the Hong-Kong Basic Law
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Background
HK's Basic Law, the mini-constitution for Hong Kong, was approved by the People's Congress of PRC before the handover in 1997. Article 23 in HK SAR's Basic Law reads "The HK SAR shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition or theft of state secrets." Now the SAR government, five years after reunification, has decided that it is time to do so.
The controversy of the implementation of HK's Basic Law, Article 23 centers on two issues: 1. The rush with which the government seems to be pushing the legislation through. 2. The government's insistence in not issuing a white bill.
A white bill, which is the legislation draft itself, is usually issued before a new legislation is tabled for passage in LEGCO. In the current case, however, the government released only a consultation paper, which gives an outline of the legislation and its objectives. The government insisted on not releasing the exact wording of the new anti-subversion laws and planned to have the laws passed by July.
This is a petition initiated by Society of Hong Kong and Chinese Affairs at UC Berkeley to gather the support from overseas Hong Kong students in universities in North America, Europe and Asia/Australia for the issuance of a white bill for the anti-subversion laws. We have decided to take a stance on this issue because we realize that those laws will have broad implications for the HK people. We plan to present the petition with the gathered signatures to the HK Legislative Council.
What motivates this petition from SHKCA?
Your action is needed right now. Hong Kong is known for having very a good government and capable civil servants. For that reason there are rarely times when action on our part is needed to raise our concerns to the government. But the lack of transparency in the process of the implementation of the sensitive Article 23 in the Basic Law threatens Hong Kong's image as an open international city.
The openness of our governmental system is the key that separates us from many other thriving Asian economic cities. It is uniquely Hong Kong's advantage. As overseas HK students, we have to show the government that overseas HK students care very much about this. We now ask you to sign this petition as a gesture of telling the government that, yes, you do care about preserving Hong Kong's advantage over the other Asian cities, that you do care about protecting Hong Kong's democratic process. Your email will be protected. Please tell your friends to sign it too. This is a collective effort, and every single signature that we solicit is very precious. This is the time where you can make a difference.
Sign the petition:
Please support this signature campaign by signing as soon as possible. We plan to put all the names collected in this campaign on a mainstream Hong-Kong newspaper. The campaign letter above will be sent to the offices of Mr. Tung Chee-Hwa, Mrs. Elsie Leung and Mrs. Regina Ip.
We will also appreciate any voluntary donation to support this petition campaign. Please write your cheque to Society of Hong Kong and Chinese Affairs (ASUC) and mail it to
Ms. Alice WongPlease specify 'article 23 signature campaign' with your name and contact number at the back of the cheque as well. Thanks for your support.
SHKCA Petition
1634 Milvia Street Apt 7
Berkeley, 94709, USA
IMPORTANT NOTICE: All signatures hereby submitted are legally valid as a form of petition endorsement. Hence, be sure to understand all the terms of this petition before signing it. Any individual attempting to abuse this online petition system will be prosecuted. SHKCA reserves the right to verify that all signature submission is authentic. All material herein posted is time-stamped.