Hong Kong will not pursue legislation criminalising insults to civil servants, the government has said, noting the lack of overseas examples for such a law and that existing regulations already covered the act.
Advertisement
The Civil Service Bureau also said the enactment of a domestic national security law was already effectively safeguarding security and social stability and the current administrations would focus on economic development.
A letter sent to lawmakers on Thursday, which stated the administration would not draft the law during its current term, puts to rest, at least for now, a years-long discussion, amplified by the anti-government protests in 2019.
Police groups and some legislators had pushed for laws during the social unrest that would ban insults against officers, with suggestions that it could also be broadened to cover disrespectful acts towards other civil servants.
The letter by the Civil Service Bureau said that it, together with the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau and the Security Bureau, had “communicated” with various major civil service employee representatives and central staff consultative councils “to inform and explain the decision by the current administration not to handle the matter of insulting public officials through legislation”.
Advertisement
“The government has completed the legislation of Article 23 of the Basic Law, and national security and social stability in Hong Kong have been effectively safeguarded,” it said, referring to the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance enacted in March last year.
“With the clear support of the central government, the city government is now fully committed to boosting the economy and pursuing development.”