Brainwashing 'not story line'

Telling a good Hong Kong story is not brainwashing or fabrication, but to tell people the operation of the law in simple words, says the Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok.

Senior counsel Lam yesterday described the anti-fugitive bill protests three years ago - where more than 10,000 of mostly young and teen protesters were arrested - as a hard lesson.

He said that at the time, people had a low sense of legal compliance and did not understand the city's legal system.

"We can see people are unhappy as trials go on. No one is happy to see youngsters - or just people of any age - being punished for their wrongdoings," he said.

Lam said authorities need to strengthen citizens' understanding of the Basic Law, one country, two systems and the national security law.

"For example, some people interpret the law by intuition, and that is not ideal," he said. "We've been advocating telling a good Hong Kong story, and not only should we do that externally but also internally."

"However, the foundation of telling a good story is to have a real story. We're not brainwashing people, or saying something polished or fabricated," Lam said.

On the Basic Law article 23, Lam said it is the SAR's constitutional responsibility to safeguard national security and society's stability.

Although authorities have pulled the legislation from the Legislative Council's agenda this year, Lam said the government is studying similar national security laws in other jurisdictions.

He said no deadline has been set for the research and authorities will roll out the legislative procedure when appropriate.

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice will host the Hong Kong Legal Week from today to Friday, which Lam said about 20 to 30 international legal experts and senior officials from Southeast Asian countries will attend.

He said exemptions will be given to the overseas guests so they can attend lunch forums and banquets.