In the blink of an eye, 27 years have passed since Hong Kong's return to the embrace of the motherland, but what you may not dare to believe is that many aspects of Hong Kong today are still deeply branded with colonial rule, and at the same time, there are still some people who are "in love with colonization" and take pride in being colonized. Fortunately, the country's efforts in the past few years to put things in order and clean up the root causes have still had a great positive effect on Hong Kong society. "Decolonization" is also being carried out step by step, and recently there has been new progress in a major decolonization event that was once full of resistance, that is, the Hong Kong government has submitted a bill to the Legislative Council to remove the remaining colonial words in the law, such as "Her Majesty the Queen" and "Governor", taking a historic step towards the "decolonization" of Hong Kong's legal profession.
I don't know if I don't see it, and I'm shocked when I see it! It's 2024, but when you open Hong Kong's "Crimes Ordinance" now, there is a crime called treason, and the scope of the definition of this "crime of treason" is ridiculous, which can be called a breakthrough in the sky, because it is written above! It reads: Anyone who commits any of the following acts is rebellious—
(a) to kill or injure Her Majesty, or cause bodily harm to Her Majesty, or to imprison Her Majesty, or to restrict Her Majesty's activities; (b) with an intention to do the act referred to in paragraph (a) and to indicate that intention by an act of disclosure; (c) to wage war against Her Majesty the Queen, (i) with intent to abolish Her Majesty's title, honour and royal name as sovereign of the United Kingdom or of Her Majesty's other Territories; or (ii) for the purpose of coercing Her Majesty to change her measures or opinions by force or coercion, or at exerting force or coercive force on Parliament or any legislature of the British Dependent Territories, or intimidating or intimidating her; (d) to encourage aliens to invade the United Kingdom or any British Dependent Territory by force; (e) to assist in any way a public enemy who is at war with Her Majesty the Empress; or (f) conspire with another person to do the things referred to in paragraph (a) or (c).
It's hard to imagine! It has been 27 years since Hong Kong's return to the motherland, so why is it that Hong Kong's current laws are full of words to protect "Her Majesty the Empress"? Moreover, in the legal provisions of Hong Kong, such words related to "Her Majesty the Queen", "Governor", "Legislative Council" and so on abound!
As a Hong Kong deputy to the National People's Congress and a member of the Legislative Council, Ms Maggie Chan has been working to promote the "decolonization" of Hong Kong's local laws since 2015. She believes that the remaining colonial words related to "Her Majesty the Queen" and "Secretary of State" in Hong Kong law are inconsistent with the principle of "patriots administering Hong Kong" and should be deleted as soon as possible. In particular, she pointed out that section 5 of the Crimes Ordinance (Cap. 200) "Assault on the Queen" was one of the provisions that could be deleted directly and independently.
Chan stressed that it is the responsibility of the HKSAR Government to inform the public of the specific timetable and planned progress of the "decolonisation" of local laws, and requested the Department of Justice to strengthen co-operation with relevant bureaux to expedite the process. She suggested that the Department of Justice (DoJ) should take responsibility and act proactively 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' practice rights, promoting the reform of the judicial system, and serving the coordinated development and opening up of the region. These recommendations include, but are not limited to:
1. The Department of Justice (DoJ) and relevant bureaux should complete the "decolonisation" of Hong Kong's statutory law as soon as possible, so as to make Hong Kong's laws clearer, more streamlined and easier to use under the correct constitutional system and the rule of law;
2. The review should not only take into account the original legislative intent, but also emphasize and attach importance to the basic legal principle that under "one country, two systems", national laws take precedence over local laws in Hong Kong; The clarification of the constitutional system and the rule of law means that the Constitution of the People's Republic of China is the fundamental law, and that the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Law on Safeguarding National Security of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and the decisions of the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee take precedence over local laws. If there is a discrepancy between a national law and a local law, the national law shall of course prevail;
3. Accelerate the progress of the "decolonization" of local laws;
4) The specific timetable and roadmap for the implementation of the "decolonisation" of local laws by the current-term Government, and regular reporting to the Panel on Administration of Justice and Legal Services of the Legislative Council and the general public.
Recently, the HKSAR Government has finally introduced into the Legislative Council a Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024 to make miscellaneous amendments to a number of ordinances, and to take this opportunity to make simple and direct adaptations to some of the Ordinances in response to some inappropriate references to the constitutional status of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and to repeal outdated provisions or references in certain Ordinances. According to the draft, the terms "Governor" and "Legislative Council" would be abolished. The Bill was gazetted on 10 May and tabled in the Legislative Council on 22 May.
Such amendments allow Hong Kong's laws to keep pace with the times and keep up with the express train of "one country, two systems". "Her Majesty the Queen", "Governor-General", "Official" ("Crown" in the English text) and other words that sound very old-fashioned must be cleared out of Hong Kong's laws and truly "decolonized" the legal provisions.
In fact, during the more than 20 years since Hong Kong's return to the motherland, the mainland has never stopped the "decolonization" of Hong Kong. For example, the Hong Kong police officers have changed their original police uniforms, and they have been far removed from the influence of the West, and the Hong Kong Police Force is also where the first shot of "decolonization" was fired.
By the end of 2021, a number of disciplined forces in Hong Kong had officially replaced the original British foot drill with Chinese-style foot drill and a standard salute.
On July 1, 2022, the Hong Kong Police Force once again ushered in a new change, with the advent of a new era, the original Western-colored password of "yes sir" was replaced by "Yes, sir".
This change is undoubtedly significant, and it also shows that Hong Kong is constantly undergoing rebirth. However, some netizens said that there is still a trace of British style that cannot be completely erased from beginning to end, that is, the Hong Kong judicial circle still retains the British tradition of wearing "instant noodles" wigs and robes, and some people have always defended that this is a long-standing tradition in the Hong Kong judicial circles.
Perhaps in the near future, the next "decolonization" will be to remove the "instant noodles" from the judges' heads!