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Following is the transcript (English portion) of the remarks made to the media by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, after the Legislative Council passed the Interception of Communications and Surveillance Bill early this (August 6) morning:
Secretary for Security: I am glad that after over 50 hours of deliberation, the Legislative Council has passed the Interception of Communications and Surveillance Bill. In fact, the Bill has been examined very thoroughly by the Bills Committee since March this year. The Bills Committee has convened more than 120 hours of meeting to examine the Bill. I must thank the legislators who have given us support to pass the Bill. And I must emphasise that this piece of legislation is very important to maintain the good law and order of Hong Kong. We are also grateful to legislators who have given us ideas and suggestions so that we can introduce more than 180 Committee Stage Amendments to perfect the Bill. I wish to assure the residents of Hong Kong that the law now is a good balance between effective law enforcement on the one hand and the protection of privacy on the other. We have adopted proposals of the Law Reform Commission published in March this year regarding the appointment of panel judges, Commissioner and the like. We are now finalising the follow-up actions like the gazettal of the Bill and departmental guidelines. After the commencement of the Bill, the Chief Executive will, based on the recommendations of the Chief Justice, appoint panel judges and the Commissioner.
Reporter: What is your response to the democrats' walkout?
Secretary for Security: As I said in the Chamber, the Legislative Council is just like a miniature of the community. Hong Kong is a free, open and diverse community. We have the freedom of speech. We respect views of the other parties. As I said earlier in the Chamber, although we may not have the same views sometimes, I respect the other sides' views.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript).
Ends/Sunday, August 6, 2006
Issued at HKT 03:44
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