SECURITY officials will study how other countries legislate against ``evil cults'' while the government continues to keep an eye on the Falun Gong's activities in Hong Kong.
But this did not mean there was an urgency to introduce any new legislation or speed up the introduction of the subversion law, Secretary for Security Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee said yesterday.
Instead, the government would rely on the Public Order Ordinance to keep troublemakers away from Falun Gong activities or to control protests during international forums being held in Hong Kong in May and October, she said.
Mrs Ip was speaking on the subject for the first time since Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa branded the Hong Kong arm of the Falun Gong as ``more or less an evil cult in nature'' during a Legislative Council question-and-answer session last Thursday.
She said Mr Tung made the remarks after watching television footage of five alleged Falun Gong followers setting themselves alight in Tiananmen Square.
As far as Hong Kong was concerned, she said there were a few examples where the Falun Gong may be perceived as acting as an evil cult.
On July 21 last year Falun Gong members holed up at a Happy Valley flat threatened to jump from a window when immigration officers, firemen and police arrived to deport them for not having valid visas.
A week later another Falun Gong woman threatened to jump from the same flat when the owner decided to evict her and other tenants.
Also in July, pregnant Falun Gong follower Wendy Fang Minqing from the United States was refused entry at the airport and went on hunger strike.
But Mrs Ip said such acts were not enough to warrant anti-cult legislation.
The government would continue to monitor the Falun Gong and, in the meantime, would study other countries' laws to deal with such activities, she added.
The Association of Hong Kong Falun Dafa is due to hold a conference in Hong Kong on May 13 to commemorate the ninth anniversary of the sect's founding by US-based Li Hongzhi.
Falun Dafa Hong Kong spokesman Kan Hung-cheung said they ``would not be threatened'' by any anti-evil cult law ``as our sect does not encourage killings or suicide''.
Mrs Ip said the government would also be on alert when Fortune magazine hosts a forum in Hong Kong from May 8-10, to be attended by President Jiang Zemin and former US president Bill Clinton.
World leaders will also take part in an SAR government-hosted World Economic Forum East Asia Summit to be held between October 29-31.
Meanwhile, the Falun Gong issue has been put on the Legislative Council agenda following concerns about the Chief Executive's branding of the religious sect as ``more or less an evil cult in nature''.
14 February 2001 / 11:45 PM