An advertisement taken out by the Heung Yee Kuk explaining their stand on small house policy. File photo: RTHK
The Chief Executive CY Leung says there needs to be a review of the small house policy, which allows male indigenous villagers to build a three-storey house on a plot of ancestral land, in light of Hong Kong's pressing need for more developable land.
Responding to a caller on an RTHK phone-in programme, Leung said the policy has a complex history that goes beyond its official implementation in 1972.
The policy has become a hot political issue after the District Court recently sentenced 11 villagers and a developer to jail terms for a property scam linked to the policy.
In his judgement, Judge Sham Siu-man also said the case clearly showed the policy isn’t working, as the villagers had no intention of abiding by the law because they wanted only to sell their rights for money.
But the powerful rural body, Heung Yee Kuk, expressed their displeasure at the judgement and said they will fight for their rights, which they say are constitutionally protected.
http://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1235995-20160115.htm
