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My Take | Ombudsman sets a new year zero by removing reports from website

Ensuring easy public access to carefully preserved archives allows for Hong Kong’s history – recent or distant – to be better understood

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Further restrictions were imposed on accessing past investigation reports from the Office of the Ombudsman, which have been taken offline under a new policy. Photo: Natalie Wong

The need to better protect official archives and ensure public access to them has long been recognised in Hong Kong.

Unlike other parts of the world, the city lacks a law providing clear rules for the safeguarding of records. But despite a public consultation in 2018, progress has not been made.

The calls for an archives law have, in the past, been supported by the Office of the Ombudsman, the watchdog tasked with supervising the government and guarding against maladministration.

Last year, the body celebrated its 35th anniversary with an international conference. Ombudsman Jack Chan Jick-chi spoke of the body’s mission to “propel administrative fairness, accountability and transparency”.

One of the watchdog’s values is “making ourselves accessible and accountable to the public”. It is, therefore, a concern that it has removed content dating back years, including investigation reports, from its website.

New arrangements introduced last month make public access to these valuable resources much more difficult. Only records published since April 2023 remain on the website. A new year zero has been set.

The watchdog said the removed records were no longer up to date and might even be misleading, adding that they “no longer reflect the current situation”. This is not a convincing explanation. Historical records, naturally, reflect the position at the time.

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