The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, together with the Secretary for Security, Mr John Lee, and the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Mr Frank Chan Fan, held a press conference this afternoon (August 12). Following is the transcript of remarks at the press conference:

Reporter: As what Mr Lee just said, we need to investigate the whole thing and many requesting independent commission of inquiry that is not just investigating the Police but also the government officials and the whole situation including the protesters. So why don't you initiate this commission and how do you see the IPCC (Independent Police Complaints Council) are able to do this? And won't it be too late for the IPCC to start investigating Police after they have done all those bloody actions, because people are already getting hurt?

     And my second question is also for Mr Lee. How do you respond to protesters who are in range by undercover police when arresting them? Why are the Police not showing their warrant cards even after people requesting during their arrest? Did you allow them not to reveal their identity?                    

     And my last question is for Mr Chan and Mr Cheung. What're your view on the decision by the Airport Authority to suspend all remaining flights in and out of Hong Kong given that the airport operation was smooth during the three day sit-in protests last week?

Secretary for Security: Thank you for your questions and I will answer my part first and I will pass on. First of all, we have this statutory body which is Independent Police Complaints Council, which has been doing complaints against Police in accordance with its legal set up and its legal power. The IPCC has been dealing with complaints of this nature since its establishment. And there have been occasions where actually cases will be brought to the court. So I believe in its effectiveness. The second thing is the IPCC has already indicated that they will do something which is special in examining all the possible evidence in this case, which is not something they will usually do, which indicates their seriousness in handling this matter. As far as I have understood from the IPCC through public release, they actually will be inviting evidence from all sources and this is something that they are doing specially for this case. From all sources, that means even if the source is unproven, they will still examine it. And it is going to be a thorough and impartial investigation by the complaint system, which will be monitored by the IPCC. And we have this system which is established under the law. The IPCC has indicated that they will also make their study, a report to be submitted to the Chief Executive who has asked for the report to be made public. And it will be only after a thorough investigation is completed, then we will see the full picture.

     In regard to your second question, it is not up to me to talk about the deadline because the IPCC operates independently. And I have learned from the IPCC public release that they will try their best to finish the report in six months. But of course, that time frame, according to the release by the IPCC, was to deal with the incidents after the 9th of June up to the 2nd of July. And I have also heard one of the vice-chairmen indicating that it is likely that the scope and the period of the study will be expanded. So I will respect the IPCC’s independence and its operation. 

Reporter: ……IPCC ……?

Secretary for Security: Can you let me answer your full question before you throw in the third, otherwise I think I will lose track.

     The thing is it is a system that is established under the law, and it has operated with the result which will see cases brought to court if some substantiated complaints are made. So this is a system that I think the IPCC will ensure that in all these incidents of complaints, then they will be handled thoroughly and impartially.

     Regard to your question about there are people already injured in this series of incidents, indeed it is because of violence, because of people openly defiant the law that has caused confrontation, that has caused the Police who have to deal with it in accordance with the law. If there is no attack on the Police, if there is no use of violence, of course there is no need for the Police to resort to the use of force. And I have mentioned repeatedly that there is a particular group of people, who are now involved in strong tendency of serious violence and a kind of acts that they have been doing are really very dangerous. Some of the actions they have taken, and some of the instruments or weapons they have used can be deadly. And you can see petro-bomb being thrown, you can see fire being set, you can see people being dragged out of the car because of opposite views. So this is sowing the sea of terror which I think the Police must deal with. And I think in this context, we have to understand why the Police had to take the actions that it needed to take. They are trying to do their action with the minimum degree of injuries. That is why they have to use tear gas. And that is to maintain a safety distance, so that there is no large-scale confrontation. And the amount of force they are used are non-lethal weapons. If you compare their gear, their equipment, with those overseas, then you will see that the kind of gear and the kind of weapons they used are relatively of a less degree of force and the method they have been deploying had been taken into consideration of reducing the amount of injuries. So stop the violence, do the protest in accordance with the law as Hong Kong has been doing in the last 22 years, and then we can return to normal and deal with business in the normal way.

Secretary for Transport and Housing: The Hong Kong International Airport has been operating since 1998. In the past 21 years, the airport was only suspended for reasons of typhoon. If I don't remember wrongly, the other occasion was due to collision of a vessel with the bridge. The incident today is obviously an act with the deliberation to disrupt normal airport operations. The reason to suspend it from operation is very trivial. Firstly, (it is due to) the chaos arising from traffic congestion caused by protesters who drove their cars to the airport and block the road. More importantly, it's about aviation safety, personal safety of the passengers, and all staff members who work in the airport. These are the reasons why we have to suspend the operation of the Hong Kong International Airport. We don't want to suspend it. The Hong Kong International Airport is one of the safest airports, one of the most efficient airports, and what have been done today has seriously harmed the reputation of Hong Kong as well as the Hong Kong International Airport. Therefore, I would like to appeal once again to all those who are now demonstrating in the Hong Kong International Airport to leave peacefully as soon as possible so that the Hong Kong International Airport could resume operation as quickly as we can, and to restore the lustre of the Hong Kong International Airport as much as we would love to have.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

     Hong Kong Customs yesterday (August 11) seized about 2.2 kilograms of suspected cocaine with an estimated market value of about $2.2 million at the Hong Kong International Airport.
 
     A female passenger arrived in Hong Kong from Johannesburg, South Africa yesterday afternoon. During customs clearance, the suspected cocaine was found being concealed inside false compartments of her computer bag. The woman was then arrested.
 
     The arrested person, aged 38, has been charged with one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug. She will appear at the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts tomorrow (August 13).
 
     Under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, trafficking in a dangerous drug is a serious offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $5 million and life imprisonment.
 
     Members of the public may report any suspected drug trafficking activities to Customs' 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).

  

     Correctional officers stopped a person in custody from assaulting another person in custody at Lo Wu Correctional Institution today (August 12).

     At 12.18pm today, a 27-year-old female person in custody attacked another 33-year-old female person in custody inside the workshop. Officers at the scene immediately stopped the assailant and called for reinforcement.

     During the incident, the victim sustained injuries to her mouth and hand etc. After examination and treatment by the institution Medical Officer, she was referred to a public hospital for further treatment. The assailant sustained injury to her hand. After treatment provided by the institution Medial Officer, she did not need to be sent to public hospital.

     The case has been reported to the Police for investigation.

     The assailant was sentenced to imprisonment for the offence of trafficking in a dangerous drug.

     The newly established Multi-functional Smart Lampposts Technical Advisory Ad Hoc Committee held its first meeting today (August 12).
      
     The Government Chief Information Officer, who is also the Convenor of the Committee, Mr Victor Lam, chaired the meeting. A number of topics were discussed, including the work plan and modus operandi of the Committee. Members' views and advice on the personal privacy protection and related information security technology issues relating to the operation of multi-functional smart lampposts were sought. The target is for the Committee to complete the work and come up with a report before the end of this year.
      
     "Members of the Committee are drawn from industry experts and academics. Through their expert views in different technology and application fields and constructive advice, we hope to clarify facts and allay public concern.
      
     "The Committee will also advise on the publicity and engagement strategy to facilitate public understanding over the equipment installed on smart lampposts and their functionalities and potential uses in an open and transparent manner in order to gain greater support from the community," Mr Lam said.

     The membership of the Committee is as follows:
 
Convenor
———–
Mr Victor Lam
Government Chief Information Officer
 
Members
———-
Mr Vincent Chan
Partner
Ernst & Young Advisory Services Limited
 
Dr K P Chow
Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science
The University of Hong Kong
 
Mr Francis Fong
Honorary President
Hong Kong Information Technology Federation
 
Mr Stephen Ho
Honorary Chairman
Communications Association of Hong Kong
 
Professor Joseph Ng
Professor and Director of the Research Centre for Ubiquitous Computing, Department of Computer Science
Hong Kong Baptist University
 
Mr Ronald Pong
Chairman
IT Governance Committee
Smart City Consortium
 
Dr Lawrence Poon
General Manager
Hong Kong Productivity Council
 
Dr K F Tsang
Associate Professor, Department of Electronic Engineering
City University of Hong Kong
 
Mr Stephen Kai-yi Wong 
Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data
 
Mr Wilson Wong
Chief Executive Officer
Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation Limited
 
     The Multi-functional Smart Lampposts pilot scheme is a three-year programme to promote smart city development in Hong Kong and support 5G mobile network implementation. Under the scheme, 400 smart lampposts are proposed to be installed in phases in four districts: Central/Admiralty, Causeway Bay/Wan Chai, Tsim Sha Tsui and Kwun Tong/Kai Tak Development Area. Since the end of June, 50 smart lampposts have been installed on Sheung Yuet Road in Kowloon Bay, on Shing Kai Road in Kai Tak and in the Kwun Tong city centre to collect various types of real-time city data such as meteorological, air quality and traffic flow data. The data collected will be released as open data via data.gov.hk, facilitating the development of more innovative applications by the public.
 
     The Government made it clear last month that three applications of the lampposts would not be activated for the time being in view of public concern over privacy. An expert committee will be set up as soon as possible to review the privacy protection of such applications in relation to technology, data handling and operational arrangements.
 
     The applications on hold are the monitoring of illegal dumping at black spots with the aid of cameras by the Environmental Protection Department, the collection and analysis of average traffic speeds and travel times of specific road segments using Bluetooth traffic detectors, and assessment of road use by different types of vehicles enabled by cameras collecting car plate numbers by the Transport Department.
 
     The discussion papers for the Committee are available on the Multi-functional Smart Lampposts thematic webpage at www.ogcio.gov.hk/en/our_work/strategies/initiatives/smart_lampposts/.

  

      Harvest Time Engineering Limited and its director were prosecuted by the Labour Department (LD) for failing to pay wages, annual leave pay and the sums awarded by the Labour Tribunal (LT) to two employees in accordance with the Employment Ordinance (EO). The company and its director pleaded guilty at Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts today (August 12) and were fined $55,000 and $40,000 respectively for a total of $95,000. In addition, the company and the director were ordered to pay an outstanding sum of about $140,000 to the employees concerned.

     The company failed to pay two employee's wages and annual leave pay within seven days after the expiry of the wage period and the date of termination of employment, and the full awarded sum within 14 days after the LT Award as required by the EO. The full awarded sum covering the above wages and annual leave pay amounted to about $150,000. The director concerned was prosecuted and convicted for his consent, connivance or neglect in the above offences committed by the company.

     "The ruling helps disseminate a strong message to all employers, directors and responsible officers of companies that they have to pay wages and annual leave pay to employees within the time limit stipulated in the EO, and to pay the awarded sums according to the LT or Minor Employment Claims Adjudication Board," an LD spokesman said.

     "The LD will not tolerate these offences and will spare no effort in enforcing the law and safeguarding employees' statutory rights," the spokesman added.