WHEN is the Chief Executive's view a personal opinion or an expression of government policy?
That was the question puzzling legislator Szeto Wah after the Chief Secretary for Administration's apparent confusion recently over Tung Chee-hwa's statement labelling Falun Gong an ``evil cult''.
Mr Szeto put the question to Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, who yesterday confirmed that views expressed by the Chief Executive during a Legislative Council question-and-answer session were, in fact, government policy.
The question from Mr Szeto of the Democratic Party was an apparent reference to comments Mr Tsang made at the Foreign Correspondents' Club last month, playing down Mr Tung's statement in Legco a week earlier.
During the June 14 question-and-answer session, Mr Tung had, for the first time, said the controversial sect was ``undoubtedly an evil cult''.
However, at the lunch with journalists on June 21, the Chief Secretary intimated that Mr Tung's remarks had been a personal opinion and not government policy.
``You have your own definition [of an evil cult], Mr Tung has his own definition, the Buddhists have one, the Catholics have another ... it is natural for people to have different views on what a cult is and what an evil cult is,'' Mr Tsang said. The government issued a statement the next day saying Mr Tung's comments were the official line.
Yesterday, in response to Mr Szeto's question, Mr Tsang underscored this point.
``As the head of the Hong Kong SAR government, the views that the Chief Executive expresses in reply to questions raised by Legislative Council members during the question-and-answer sessions in the council represent the stance of the government,'' he said.
Pressed to confirm that the government regarded Falun Gong as an evil cult, Mr Tsang skirted the question, referring legislators back to the minutes of the question-and-answer session.
``The remarks that Mr Tung made have been kept on the record; legislators can know what he said by referring back to it,'' he said.
Asked what justification Mr Tung had to categorise the Falun Gong as a evil cult when there was no cult law in Hong Kong, the Chief Secretary did not answer directly, again referring lawmakers back to the minutes ``so you can know what he had based [his statement on] saying Falun Gong is a cult''.
Mr Tsang said that because there was no law defining ``evil cult'' in Hong Kong, groups, religions and individuals - as well as the government - could have their own interpretation of it.