ABSTRACT
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government has far wider responsibilities and it struggles at times to measure up well. As July 1997 approached, a key influence on the intensifying discussion about enhanced political reform after the establishment of the HKSAR was the Basic Law. The Basic Law thus goes a considerable way towards embedding not just the Common Law system but also the Rule of Law, within the Constitution of the HKSAR. The HKSAR Government, under Chief Executive Donald Tsang, set a further political reform initiative, related to both the Chief Executive Election and the LegCo Elections, in train in late 2009. The Court of Final Appeal (CFA) also concluded that the Basic Law was the fundamental instrument governing the constitutional operation of the HKSAR. The Chief Justice of the CFA, Andrew Li, in the course of his judgement, expressed that: Freedom of expression is a fundamental freedom in a democratic society.
