Drop The Amendment Bill Now, Says Opposition

Pro-democracy lawmakers and activists on Monday called on the the government to shelve the fugitive ordinance amendment bill in light of a court verdict which jailed a Taiwan murder suspect for 29 months over money laundering.

The opposition said they want the government to drop the current bill, carry out a proper public consultation exercise, and listen to changes proposed by pan-democratic parties on how to resolve the situation.

The lawmakers said there is now no reason to rush the government's amendment bill through Legco. They said they will seek a meeting with Chief Executive Carrie Lam to discuss the matter.

The Carrie Lam administration had cited the Taiwan murder case and urged lawmakers to pass the amendments quickly, warning that the murder suspect, Chan Tong-kai, could walk free on Monday as he had already been in detention for over a year.

Speaking after the verdict, the pan-democrats also urged the government to listen to the huge number of people who joined a protest rally against the bill on Sunday.

The convenor of the pro-democracy camp, Claudia Mo, said it is wrong for the government to force the bill through before July. She said the government will face the wrath of the public if they insist on this.

Hong Kong University legal scholar Eric Cheung said there would be major consequences if the government went through with the proposed changes now.

He called on the government to deal with the matter by changing the law to cover only Taiwan, or changing laws to allow extraterritorial jurisdiction for Hong Kong's courts.