98.6pc of submissions back Article 23 proposals: govt

The government on Thursday said it received a total of 13,147 submissions on its plans to enact national security legislation under Article 23 of the Basic Law and most of them back the move. A Security Bureau spokesman said 12,969 submissions, or 98.6 percent of the total, "show support and make positive comments". The spokesman said 93 submissions, or 0.71 percent, are against the proposals, including more than 10 from overseas anti-China organisations or abscondees. "The aforementioned result has indicated that the legislative proposals have gained majority support from the public," the bureau said. "Views received cover different aspects of the legislative proposals while some offered views on safeguarding national security beyond what is covered in the proposals of the consultation document. These would serve as a valuable reference in the process of drafting the bill." The bureau added that it will continue to refute groundless attacks and smears regarding the legislation, to protect the public from being misled. A month-long public consultation exercise on the planned legislation came to an end on Wednesday. Writing on his Facebook page, Secretary for Justice Paul Lam said the government will consolidate the results of the consultation exercise at full steam, report to lawmakers, and seek to finalise and table the relevant Legco bill as soon as possible.