HONG KONG (SE): After nearly two million people flooding the streets of Hong Kong in peaceful protest yet again, the territory’s chief executive, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, emerged on the morning of August 20 to tell the press that she is willing to create a platform for dialogue but was not inclined to start an independent inquiry into police actions during a political crisis now entering its 12th week.
 

HONG KONG (SE): Over 500 people joined a prayer service, organised by the Justice and Peace Commission and the Hong Kong Federation of Catholic Students, at the music kiosk of Victoria Park on August 18 at 2.00pm before a peaceful rally against the now-suspended extradition bill and police brutality against protesters. 
 

HONG KONG (SE): On June 16, Victoria Park was the starting point for a second Sunday of protests against the government’s ill-conceived extradition amendment bill. The organisers, the Civil Human Rights Front, estimated that a record two million people, from all sectors of society, joined the march from the park to the Central Government Offices in Admiralty. 
 

HONG KONG (SE): A spokesperson from the Justice and Peace Commission of Hong Kong said the newly approved joint checkpoint arrangement for the cross-border rail link shows a total disregard for the spirit of the Basic Law and the promise of One country, two systems.
 
On December 27, the National People’s Congress approved a plan to enforce national laws in part of the West Kowloon terminus for the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link.
 

HONG KONG (UCAN): The Legislative Council (LegCo) has been told by the chief executive, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, that the leasing of space at the Hong Kong terminus of the Express Rail Link connecting the city with Guangzhou on the other side of the mainland border may have gone ahead whether it passed a non-binding bill or not.
 
However, critics from the pro-democracy seats in the LegCo say that this may see Hong Kong on the train but off the rails, as the arrangement could be used to usurp law in the city.
 

HONG KONG (UCAN): The chief executive of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, got a few unhappy reactions to her gay talk at an event organised by the Foreign Correspondents Club on October 31 on the territory’s successful bid to host the Gay Games in 2022.
 
It was reported that when asked if she was pleased about it, she said that the city is still divided on the issues of same-sex marriage, then went on to cite her Catholic faith as a basis for her position.
 

HONG KONG (SE): While welcoming a plan to subsidise transport costs for working people presented by the chief executive, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, in her maiden policy address on October 11, the Catholic Commission for Labour Affairs is calling it a token gesture or cosmetic throwaway line.
 
In a statement released on the same day Lam addressed the Legislative Council, the commission said that the fundamental difficulties faced by working people involve long work hours, low wages and a lack of any realistic retirement protection plan.

HONG KONG (SE): A tangled web of government interference, an interpretation of the Basic Law by Beijing pre-empting a court decision and meddling in the affairs of the Legislative Council (LegCo) by the former chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, has led the project officer from the Justice and Peace Commission, Jackie Hung Ling-yu, to refer to the barring of four members of the LegCo as political prosecution.
 

The coadjutor of the diocese, Bishop Michael Yeung Ming-cheung, and vicar general, Father Dominic Chan Chi-ming, gathered to extend their congratulations to Lam, who is a parishioner at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Wan Chai.

HONG KONG (SE): In his congratulatory letter to Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on being selected as the next chief executive of Hong Kong, John Cardinal Tong Hon reminded her that basic freedoms are at the guts of the issue of governance.

The bishop of Hong Kong also showed his delight at seeing all three candidates express their ongoing commitment to the city’s wellbeing.