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Following is the transcript of remarks (English portion) made by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, at a media session at the ground floor lobby of the Central Government Offices, West Wing, today (March 4):
Reporter: What is going on with legislators and scholars being turned away in Macau? What have you been doing with the authorities there?
Secretary for Security: The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government is concerned about these cases of Hong Kong residents being refused entry into Macau. That's why we have instructed our officers to contact our counterparts in Macau to understand what has happened and to express the HKSAR Government's concern. We are following up the matter now.
Reporter: How many people have been refused entry into Macau so far?
Secretary for Security: We don't have that kind of statistics. Normally, people being refused entry are not required to report the case to us. Not until they seek help from the HKSAR Government, then we have the relevant statistics. In the past, I think, a year or so, we have only less than 10 cases of people being refused entry into Macau seeking help from the HKSAR Government.
Reporter: Can you brief us on what's happening with the two singers caught possessing drugs in Japan?
Secretary for Security: I only learnt this incident from the media. As far as I know, the Hong Kong Police is contacting their counterparts in Japan to get more information about this case. I wish to appeal to the Hong Kong community, especially to the young people, that they should distance themselves from psychotropic drugs. Especially for those actors and actresses, people who are regarded as teen idols, they should watch their behaviour and lead a good example.
Reporter: Would the case be handled differently because they are currently holding foreign passports?
Secretary for Security: That's up to the Japanese authorities. Regardless of what kind of documents they are holding, they are Hong Kong residents and if they want to seek help from us, we will provide that kind of help.
Reporter: Can you tell us briefly about this travellers scheme? Whether you think it would worsen Hong Kong's security?
Secretary for Security: We welcome the relaxation of the Individual Visit Scheme. As a matter of fact, this scheme has pushed the Hong Kong tourism industry much further. In the past few years, this is an impetus to our hotel, restaurant, catering and retail business. We welcome the relaxation of the scheme and I can assure the Hong Kong public we have sufficient capacity to cater for the increase in the number of visitors. We are not too worried about the law and order situation. As far as I can recollect, the statistics are that of the 100,000 tourists from the Mainland, only nine of them have violated some kind of Hong Kong laws.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Issued at HKT 19:19
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