HK radicals bereft of decency and morality: China Daily editorial

In an appalling move that should have shocked anyone with a conscience anywhere in the world, the Hong Kong University Students' Union Council on Wednesday night observed "a minute of silence" for the death of Leung Kin-fai, who took his own life after stabbing an on-duty police officer in the back in a busy street in Hong Kong on the night of July 1.

The council then proceeded to pass a motion to express its "deep sadness" at the assailant's death, as well as its "appreciation for his sacrifice to Hong Kong". Such a brazen display of contempt for human decency and the most basic moral standards in no way represents the will of the majority of HKU students; and it could not have been sanctioned by them.

Obviously, it is another stunt by those political zealots, whose minds and souls have been twisted by ideological bigotry and who have managed to get a grip on the council and made it a handy platform to promote their political agenda. There is no doubt they took such a hideous decision to vent their anger and frustration over their inability to further pursue their illegal political aspirations after the promulgation of the National Security Law for Hong Kong, aside from other malicious purposes.

The student union council's glorification of an act that the authorities have described as homegrown terrorism could be viewed by others who have been politically radicalized in the city as a call to action. With or without such an evil intention, those political fanatics in the HKUSU Council behind the immoral beautifying of attempted murder are in effect condoning and encouraging terrorist attacks.

The HKUSU Council's move to turn the attacker into a martyr came just a few days after University of Hong Kong law professor Johannes Chan Man-mun justified paying tribute to the attacker by saying that people might be mourning his death "out of sympathy". Chan's apologist stance and rhetoric have surprised few in Hong Kong: Like "Occupy Central" co-founder and former University of Hong Kong associate law professor Benny Tai Yiu-ting, Chan has been a vocal supporter of the opposition camp in Hong Kong.

It is rather unfortunate for Hong Kong people that their most prestigious institution of higher education has been turned into a training camp for radicals by political demagogues operating under the guise of academics, who are brainwashed with ideological bigotry to the extent that they no longer see even the need to make any pretense of respecting human decency and morality, much less the rule of law.

Both Hong Kong's education chief Kevin Yeung Yun-hung and the spokesperson for the University of Hong Kong have rightly condemned the act of whitewashing violence and glorifying terrorism. But that is far from enough. Action must be taken to stop all political machinations on campuses, especially to rid them of the demagogues who keep poisoning young minds.