The incident of attack on Mr Kevin LAU Chun-to, the former chief editor of Ming Pao Daily News (2014/3/19)

President, on 26 February, Mr Kevin LAU, the former chief editor of Ming Pao, was attacked and suffered serious injuries. While his condition is no longer critical, he will have a long recovery due to the great bodily and mental harm done to him. Even though I am not acquainted with Mr LAU, those who know him all praise him for being a gentleman and a professional, ethical media worker. We deeply deplore the attack on Mr LAU.No matter what the motives were, we cannot tolerate such a vicious attack in broad daylight and using violence to flagrantly challenge the rule of law.

Mr LAU is a well-known figure in the press sector. In January this year, Mr LAU drew public attention in the replacement of chief editor by Ming Pao. Since the scandal involving his replacement as chief editor and the attack happened in such close succession, people would inevitably link the two incidents together and make all sorts of speculation and association. This is understandable. However, until the whole truth comes to light, it is irresponsible to those involved and to society if we speculate on the reasons behind the incidents, and draw conclusions in the media about the motives of the incidents without any facts to support them. 

Recently, two suspects related to the attack on Mr Kevin LAU were apprehended in the Mainland and handed over to Hong Kong. So far, 11 suspects have been arrested for connection with the case. In the span of two weeks between the attack and the arrest of suspects by the police, there is now a major breakthrough in the case. I support the original motion moved by Mr Andrew LEUNG expressing shock and outrage about the incident and condemning the acts of the assailants. There are now obvious leads in the case. I hope all parties will give the police the space required to investigate the case without interference, so that the truth will be uncovered as soon as possible, in order to ally the public's doubts. Until the police have come to any conclusions, we as Members of the Legislative Council should not make any unfounded speculations, or join the denounciation of the Commissioner of Police for his remarks, thus moving the focus and affecting the police's investigation into the truth of the incident. 

President, in recent years, there have been various attacks on media operators and journalists. CHEN Ping, the publisher of iSunaffairs Weekly, Jimmy LAI, owner of Apple Daily and SHIH Wing-ching, owner of the daily am730, were attacked or threatened. However, there has been no progress in these cases and the assailants are still at large. With Mr Kevin LAU seriously wounded and the attack on two senior executives of the Hong Kong Morning News yesterday, the personal safety of media practitioners is under threat. They live in fear and worry that harm may come their way too, and that freedom of the press will be in peril due to the acts of violence. Under these circumstances, I hope that while conducting an investigation into Mr Kevin LAU's case at full  steam, the police will not give up their investigation into the series of cases in the past, and bring the assailants to justice. 

Lastly, I wish Mr Kevin LAU a speedy recovery, and hope that all pending cases will be cracked and the truth uncovered very soon. 

President, I so submit.