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Following is a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, to a question raised by the Hon Paul Tse Wai-chun in the Legislative Council today (March 4):
Question:
Bomb attacks occurred in Pakistan and Egypt on February 6 and 22 consecutively, and the personal safety of Hong Kong people who go travelling in such countries may be threatened. Yet, up to the morning of February 23, the Security Bureau had not issued any relevant travel advice. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the reasons for the Security Bureau not issuing the travel advice immediately;
(b) whether the implementation of the five-day week arrangement has delayed the announcement of travel advice; and
(c) of the measures currently in place to ensure timely announcement of travel advice so that the warning message for outbound travelling can be passed on to Hong Kong people in time?
Reply:
President,
The prime consideration in the Security Bureau issuing travel advice (TA) is the risk to the personal safety of Hong Kong residents travelling abroad. We will make reference to the assessments of the Mainland of China and other places on the concerned destinations. As regards the two incidents mentioned in the question, our reply is as follows:
(a) and (b) The Security Bureau learnt of the bomb attack in Cairo, Egypt (Note 1) in the early morning of February 23 (Monday). Upon assessment, a TA was issued in the evening the same day as the target of the attack was tourists and that Egypt is a rather popular tourist destination for Hong Kong residents. As for the bomb attack that happened in Pakistan on February 6 (Friday), from the information available to us, the target of the attack hence also the risk posed to tourists were different. In view of the circumstances, we considered it not necessary to issue any TA.
There was no question of any delay in issuing TA in the above two cases, nor any relevance to the implementation of five-day week in Government. If necessary, TAs will be issued during public holidays and weekends, which we did in the past.
(c) Through different channels (including the international media, the Chinese Diplomatic or Consular Missions overseas and the tourism trade), the Government closely monitors on a 24-hour basis any incidents that may pose threat to the personal safety of Hong Kong residents travelling outside Hong Kong. We will assess the situation accordingly and decide whether or not to issue a TA. The TAs are distributed through the mass media in the form of press releases. The TAs are also uploaded on the relevant Government websites (such as the GovHK : http://www.gov.hk/en/residents/ and the Security Bureau : http://www.sb.gov.hk/eng/about/welcome.htm). If necessary, colleagues in the Immigration Department will also approach callers to the Departmentˇ¦s Assistance to Hong Kong Residents Unit Hotline (1868) and advise them of the relevant TAs.
The Security Bureau is reviewing the mechanism of the issuing of TA with a view to improving the system and enhancing the accessibility of the relevant information for Hong Kong residents.
Note 1: The incident occurred in Sunday evening Egypt time, i.e. the small hours on Monday Hong Kong time.
Ends/Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Issued at HKT 16:46
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