CHKP

'Occupiers', hands off kids!

Heep Yunn School Principal C.H. Lee scheduled a "lecture" for Wednesday about "Occupy Central" and invited Tai Yiu-ting, the leading advocate of the illegal campaign, as guest speaker. Needless to say Principal Lee is entitled to his own political stand and we respect that, but as a middle-school principal he should respect the fact that the school is for educating the younger generation, not a platform for individuals to peddle their own political agenda, and thousands of students attending Heep Yunn are definitely not his "personal asset".

Tai has publicly admitted that "Occupy Central" is designed to incite mass "political outburst" by illegal means. It was inappropriate for Lee to agree to let Tai in to promote "Occupy Central" to the young students in the first place. And then he gave the go-ahead without consulting the parents of the students first (probably because he knew they were very unlikely to give their consent and decided to make it a fait accompli). That was even more outrageous for an educator to do.

If Principal Lee still has some sense of responsibility and professional integrity left in him, he should step forward immediately and apologize to the students, their parents and teachers and promise not to confuse personal and public interests, such as allowing the school to become a stage for political one-man shows, ever again. Otherwise he no longer deserves the position of school principal.

As for Tai Yiu-ting, the "father" of "Occupy Central", we have nothing but strong condemnation. People still remember he said early on that he did not want young people to take part in "Occupy Central", but he obviously has since changed his mind and is now trying his hardest to recruit as many youngsters as he can, including middle-school students in their early teens, with a lecture tour of campuses throughout the city to "brainwash" the next generation.

Interestingly Tai's "lecture" at Heep Yunn was canceled on Wednesday when extremely bad weather closed schools down across Hong Kong. Call it "Heaven has eyes" if you will, but it is safe to say Tai's lecture tour got off to an ominous start.

Caring Hong Kong Power (CHKP) is a non-profit NGO. This is an excerpted translation of a commentary published in its name in Wen Wei Po on May 24.

Kwan Chiu

Time to recall Wong, Chan

Legislative Council (LegCo) member Tam Yiu-chung, who is chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), said the pro-establishment members of LegCo will initiate the procedure next week to remove opposition lawmakers Wong Yuk-man and Chan Wai-yip from office, now that they have been found guilty of illegal assembly and sentenced to imprisonment longer than a month.

Article 79 of the Basic Law stipulates that the LegCo president shall declare a legislator no longer qualified for the office when he or she is convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for a month or more for a criminal offense committed within or outside the Hong Kong SAR and is relieved of his or her duties by a motion passed by two-thirds of the LegCo members present.

Wong and Chan were convicted and each sentenced to a prison term longer than one month for a criminal offense earlier this week. That means they both can be removed from public office according to the Basic Law and the LegCo Rules of Procedure, but some of their fellow opposition lawmakers are against the idea and their argument smells strongly of political bias and flies in the face of law.

Collectively the Civic Party (CP) and Democratic Party (DP) have openly refused to support the motion to recall Wong and Chan, with CP core member Tong Ka-wah claiming there is no way the motion can pass because the pro-establishment side can never achieve a two-thirds majority in this case and the establishmentarians might as well forget it. That is a very irresponsible statement for a legislator to make. Is he saying only bills that are sure to pass should be tabled, and Wong and Chan should be spared despite the fact that they fully fit the terms for removal from office?

LegCo member Helena Wong Pik-wan (DP) took the preposterous logic one step further by saying it is necessary to prevent the recall mechanism from becoming a "political weapon" for "crushing dissidents". That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Isn't the recall mechanism institutionalized in the Basic Law and Rules of Procedure? Are we supposed to believe that Wong and Chan can be convicted criminals and lawmakers at the same time?

The author is a current affairs commentator. This is an excerpted translation of her column published in Ta Kung Pao on May 24.

(HK Edition 05/25/2013 page6)