Memories of Beijing's crackdown on pro-democracy activists in Tiananmen Square still resonate in Hong Kong, where activists marked yesterday's 14th anniversary by warning that civil liberties here could be crushed by a pending anti-subversion bill.
The Hong Kong government is about to gain legislative approval of the measure -- which carries life prison sentences for many crimes against the state. Critics fear the special administrative zone could find itself subjected to communist-style suppression of unpopular views, although Hong Kong insists this is not an issue.
PHOTO: AP
Thousands of Hong Kong people gather for a candlelight vigil marking each anniversary of Beijing's deployment of troops and tanks on June 4, 1989, to stop the student democracy movement. But this year, some are worried about how long they'll be able to keep speaking out.
"If our system erodes bit by bit with this legislation in place, no matter how much the government says, `We'll be liberal,' once the laws are in place, they will be used," said Law Yuk-kai, director of the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, a nongovernmental organization.
Even the harshest critics of the law acknowledge Hong Kong is not likely to start using it immediately.
"The problem is, the water's being heated up only gradually," Law said.
"At one point, the frog will notice it's cooked," he said.
Secretary for Security Regina Ip (
Hoping to quell the criticism, Ip appeared before lawmakers on Tuesday and announced changes that will make some crimes harder to prosecute -- for example by imposing a three-year statute of limitations for any prosecution of publishing seditious materials.
Any members of a group banned on national security grounds could not be prosecuted for actions committed before the ban, Ip told lawmakers.
The opposition didn't buy it.
The founding chairman of Hong Kong's Democratic Party, attorney Martin Lee, wrote in an op-ed piece for The New York Times. "The law would introduce Chinese legal standards through the back door."
School bullies in Singapore are to face caning under new guidelines, but the education minister on Tuesday said it would be meted out only as a last resort with strict safeguards. Human rights groups regularly criticize Singapore for the use of corporal punishment, which remains part of the school and criminal justice systems, but authorities have defended it as a deterrent to crime and serious misconduct. Caning was discussed in the parliament after legislators asked how it would be used in relation to bullying in schools. The debate followed stricter guidelines on serious student misconduct, including bullying, unveiled by the Singaporean Ministry of
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