Hong Kong’s number two official renews her call for legislature to pass controversial copyright bill
Carrie Lam urges pan-democrats to cease stalling tactics and begin considering backlog of bills that have yet to be introduced
The backlogs included a recent proposal to rename the Hong Kong Institute of Education as a university and another to add more lay members to the Medical Council to accelerate its handling of patients’ complaints against doctors, she said.
In reply to lawmakers’ criticism that she had exerted pressure on Legislative Council president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing to end debate over the contentious copyright bill, Lam stressed such was not her intention.
READ MORE: The copyright impasse: Hong Kong Legislative Council president says it is unreasonable to set a deadline for bill debate
“I never gave him pressure to open more meetings, extend the meeting time, set a deadline on the bill or cut the debate,” she said of her interaction with Tsang.
At the centre of the dispute was the copyright bill, supported by copyright owners but opposed by internet users and pan-democrats, who sought broader exemptions for fear it would be used to suppress online freedom.
Since December last year, pan-democrats, in the Legco minority, relied on different filibustering tactics to delay passage of the bill, such as making continuous calls for quorum.
