Hong Kong lawmakers propose revamping 1823 hotline after Beijing study trip

At the first 'rules-free and warm-hearted' closed-door dialogue session with Chief Executive John Lee, 67 lawmakers participated in a 1.5-hour meeting at Legco on Tuesday. Fifteen lawmakers spoke, covering topics such as takeaways from their unprecedented week-long national affairs study trip to Beijing last week. Several legislators called on the city leader to adopt practices from the capital, emphasizing that the new format would not replace established communication channels.

Legco president Starry Lee Wai-king specifically cited Beijing's 12345 Citizen Hotline Service Centre, a one-stop platform for handling public complaints, and suggested that Hong Kong's 1823 public inquiry and complaint hotline could be improved by learning from that model. Lawmakers proposed visiting the 1823 centre to study how to enhance its service to better meet residents' needs. The meeting marked the first time in the current Legco term—and the first since the 1997 handover—that no formal Q&A session was held before the summer recess.