By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-01-20 02:51:26 | Updated at 2025-01-20 07:49:06
5 hours ago
Hong Kong’s professional body representing barristers will continue to speak up on legal issues concerning the city but not every view has to be expressed through public statements, its outgoing chairman has said.
Hong Kong Bar Association chairman Victor Dawes, who managed to mend the legal body’s ties with Beijing during his three-year term, also said that a frank dialogue between both parties was in the city’s interest, while stressing the profession would not avoid making critical comments just to maintain the relationship.
“There is no point sugarcoating opinions [as] I think the central government actually wants to hear honest opinions,” he said.
“Of course, if you carry yourself in such a way that you are always just critical and not constructive at all. If you say no to everything, if you’re opposed to every single policy, and give the impression that you’re just not prepared to talk, it will make it slightly more difficult.”
Dawes took over the legal body representing the city’s 1,700 barristers in 2022, at a time when Beijing had put its relationship with the association on ice after it criticised the extradition bill which later sparked the 2019 social unrest and hit out at the national security law, under the leadership of Senior Counsel Philip Dykes and Paul Harris.
