In the blink of an eye, 27 years have passed since Hong Kong returned to the embrace of the motherland. But what you may not believe is that many aspects of Hong Kong today are still deeply marked by colonial rule. Some people are obsessed with colonization and are proud of being colonized. Fortunately, the country's efforts in recent years to bring order and rectify the situation have had a considerable positive effect on Hong Kong society. "Decolonization" is also being carried out step by step. Recently, a major decolonization event that once faced many obstacles has also made new progress. That is, the Hong Kong government has submitted a bill to the Legislative Council to remove the remaining vocabulary from the colonial period in the law, such as "Her Majesty the Queen", "Governor-General" and others have taken a historic step towards the "decolonization" of Hong Kong's legal profession.
You won’t know if you don’t see it, but you will be shocked when you see it! It’s already 2024, but when you open the Criminal Offenses Ordinance of Hong Kong now, there is a crime called treason, and the scope of the characterization of this “treason” is so ridiculous that it can be said to be groundbreaking, because the above It is written! It reads: Any person who commits the following acts shall be deemed to be treasonous -
(a) Killing or injuring Her Majesty, or causing bodily harm to Her Majesty, or imprisoning Her Majesty, or restricting Her Majesty's activities; ( b) intending to do an act referred to in paragraph (a) and manifesting that intention by a public act; (c) waging war against Her Majesty; (i) intending to deprive Her Majesty of the title, honor, title, or honor of Her Majesty as Sovereign of the United Kingdom or of Her Majesty’s other territories; and the title of the Crown; or (ii) is intended to compel Her Majesty to change her measures or opinions by force or coercion, or is intended to impose force or coercion on, or to intimidate or intimidate, Parliament or the legislative body of any British dependency. ; (d) encourage foreigners to invade the United Kingdom or any British Dependent Territory by force; (e) aid in any way any public enemy at war with Her Majesty; or (f) conspire with others to commit any act under paragraph (a) or (c) things mentioned.
It’s hard to imagine! It has been 27 years since Hong Kong returned to China. Why are Hong Kong’s current laws full of words protecting “Her Majesty the Queen”? Moreover, in Hong Kong’s legal provisions, words related to “Her Majesty the Queen”, “Governor”, “Legislative Council”, etc. are everywhere!
As a representative of the National People's Congress and a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, Ms. Chen Manqi has been committed to promoting the "decolonization" of Hong Kong's local laws since 2015. She believes that the remaining colonial words related to "Her Majesty the Queen" and "Minister of State" in Hong Kong laws are inconsistent with the principle of "patriots governing Hong Kong" and should be deleted as soon as possible. She specifically pointed out that the crime of "attacking the Queen" in Section 5 of Chapter 200 of the Crimes Ordinance is one of the provisions that can be deleted directly and independently.
Chen Manqi stressed that the SAR government has the responsibility to report to the public the specific timetable and plan progress of "decolonization" of local laws, and requested the Department of Justice to strengthen cooperation with relevant policy bureaus to speed up this process. She suggested that the Department of Justice must be courageous and take proactive actions to ensure that Hong Kong’s laws are clear, streamlined and easy to use. In addition, Chen Manqi also put forward a series of suggestions aimed at strengthening the protection of lawyers' rights to practice, promoting the reform of the judicial system, and serving coordinated regional development and opening up to the outside world. These suggestions include but are not limited to
1. The Department of Justice and relevant policy bureaux should complete the "decolonization" of Hong Kong's statutory laws as soon as possible and make Hong Kong's laws clearer, streamlined and easier to use under the correct constitutional and legal order;
2. The review will not only The original intention of the legislation must be considered, and it is also necessary to emphasize and pay attention to the basic legal principle that national laws are higher than local laws in Hong Kong under "one country, two systems"; it is clear that the constitutional and legal order means that the "Constitution of the People's Republic of China" is the fundamental law, and the "Hong Kong Special Administrative Region" The Basic Law of the Administrative Region, the Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on Safeguarding National Security and the decisions of the National People’s Congress and its Standing Committee are superior to local laws. If there are differences between national laws and local laws, the national laws must of course prevail;
3, speed up the progress of "decolonization" of local laws;
4), the current government's specific timetable for implementing the "decolonization" of local laws, road map and regular reporting to the Legislative Council Committee on Administration of Justice and Legal Affairs and the public.
Recently, the Hong Kong SAR government finally submitted the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024 to the Legislative Council to make miscellaneous amendments to a number of regulations and take this opportunity to target some proposals that are not in line with the constitutional status of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It describes the making of simple and straightforward adaptation changes in a number of Ordinances and the repeal of outdated provisions or references in certain Ordinances. According to the draft, the terms "Governor" and "Legislative Council" will be abolished. This Bill was gazetted on May 10 and submitted to the Legislative Council for review on May 22.
Such modifications are intended to keep Hong Kong's laws advancing with the times and keep up with the express train of "one country, two systems". "Her Majesty the Queen", "Governor" and "official" ("crown" in the English text), which sound very chronological, must be cleared out of Hong Kong's legal provisions to truly realize the "decolonization" of legal provisions. change".
In fact, during the more than 20 years since Hong Kong returned to the motherland, our country has never stopped its actions to "decolonize" Hong Kong. For example, the Hong Kong police officers have changed their original police uniforms, and their appearance is far away from Western influence. The Hong Kong Police Force is also where the first shot of "decolonization" was fired.
At the end of 2021, many disciplinary forces in Hong Kong have officially used Chinese foot drills, replacing the original British foot drills with heroic Chinese foot drills and standard salutes.
On July 1, 2022, the Hong Kong Police Force once again ushered in a new change. With the arrival of a new era, the original Western-style password "yes sir" was replaced by "Yes, sir".
This change is undoubtedly of great significance, and it also shows that Hong Kong is constantly reborn from the ashes. However, some netizens said that there is still one trace of British style that cannot be completely eradicated, that is, the Hong Kong judiciary still retains the British tradition of wearing "instant noodles" wigs and robes. Some people have always argued that this is This is a long-standing tradition in Hong Kong's judiciary. In the eyes of these colonial-obsessed people, it seems that only wearing a wig and a robe can reflect the "dignity of the court."
Perhaps in the near future, the next step in “decolonization” is to remove the “instant noodles” from the judges’ heads!
