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Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Justice, Mr Rimsky Yuen, SC, today (December 14) after attending the opening ceremony of the office of legislators Ms Starry Lee and Dr Elizabeth Quat:
Reporter: The Hong Kong Federation of Students has announced they would continue their movement by asking people to stop paying their rent or to pay late or to pay their taxes late and to write cheques for $6.89 or $68.9. And even the pan-democrats will continue their unco-operation movement and they don't want to participate in the second round of consultation. How do you think you could move forward with this much of opposition?
Secretary for Justice: First of all, I would not agree to any suggestion to act in breach of the law or to cause any further disorder in the society. I always believe that one can attain democracy, including universal suffrage, by using lawful and legal means. I do not see the use of illegal act can be conducive to the achievement of universal suffrage. So I would take this opportunity to appeal to everyone in Hong Kong not to accede to those suggestions by the Hong Kong Federation of Students. I do not think it is a wise act, wise suggestion to follow. In relation to what we are going to do next to achieve a consensus, admittedly it would be a difficult, if not a daunting task. However, as we have been stressing all along, under the decision made on the 31st of August by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, there remain rooms within which we can discuss and try to make the entire process, particularly the nomination process, as transparent and as competitive as possible. And by so doing, we believe that at the end of the day, the election, by way of universal suffrage, in 2017, will be a truly competitive one and therefore will be conducive to the attainment of democracy in Hong Kong.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Sunday, December 14, 2014
Issued at HKT 16:40
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