Anthem law legislation a matter of course

Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Patrick Nip Tak-kuen on Monday morning said preliminary work on a local National Anthem Law bill has already started. The National Anthem Law took effect on Oct 1, after the National People's Congress Standing Committee approved it exactly a month earlier. The country's top legislature will in its next session propose that a clause be added in Annex III of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region requiring the SAR to introduce its local legislation on the National Anthem Law in due time.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, when asked by reporters about the local National Anthem Law legislation last month, said Hong Kong should and will definitely have a bylaw in compliance with the National Anthem Law because the SAR is an inalienable part of China and already has introduced similar ordinances in compliance with the National Flag Law and National Emblem Law. Many local residents have expressed their support for a National Anthem Law bill as soon as possible now that the CE has given her opinion on the matter. Given that most, if not all, other countries have their own national anthem laws it is a matter of course for China to make one for itself.

As expected the opposition camp here in Hong Kong has reacted negatively to the prospect of local National Anthem Law legislation. It maintains the usual "wariness" toward implementation of national laws through local legislation, just for the sake of opposing. Some "localist" groups which are obsessed with separatist ideas have even slandered the SAR government's move to introduce a National Anthem Law bill.

That some quarters of the community were actually opposed to the local legislation for the National Anthem Law has made it all the more imperative for the SAR government to introduce such a bill as soon as possible. And two recent incidents obviously organized by "pro-independence" groups add more urgency to the anthem law legislative process.

In two soccer matches between Hong Kong and visiting foreign teams earlier this month, a number of local youths in uniform attire jeered the national anthem of the People's Republic of China. And the same has happened many times in recent years. In view of the severity of such repeated violations of FIFA rules, the Asian Football Confederation has warned the Hong Kong Football Association of serious penalties, including closed-door matches, in the near future.

Some politically biased commentators have tried to defend such rebellious behavior by invoking "freedom of expression". But booing or turning one's back when a national anthem is played is a blatant insult to that nation and its people by any measure, a behavior that could in no way be exonerated.

No matter what excuse its detractors use, be it freedom of expression or individual rights, they can never deny Hong Kong's obligation to comply with national laws like the National Anthem Law, for the city is part of the nation.

(HK Edition 10/17/2017 page9)