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Functions of university student unions must be reviewed promptly

時間:2018-10-16 03:16:18來源:大公報

  An incident of violence happened on campus of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) days ago.  Posters advocating 'independence for Hong Kong' posted by PolyU student union on the school's 'Democracy Wall' were covered by school authorities.  Student union president Lam Wing-hang then gathered a group of followers to besiege the Offices of the President, pushing and shoving a vice president and confining faculty and staff members, and afterwards threatened school authorities with a hunger strike demanding to hand over the management of the 'Democracy Wall'.  The incident was hastily wound up through negotiations yesterday.  

  This incident is just one of the farces staged on university campuses shortly after the opening of the new academic year.  Given the circumstances that student unions of the eight universities are mostly controlled by radical trouble-making students in recent years, similar incidents will continue to occur and there can hardly be any peace on the university campuses.

  What is more noteworthy is that these radical students who control the unions openly advocate 'independence for Hong Kong' and wantonly raise sieges and create troubles, giving a very bad impression inside and outside and directly damaging other students' rightful interests and the schools' overall image.  Yet in reality, their representativeness is very low, being elected with only 10 to 20 per cent of votes.

  The radical student union presidents elected by a small number of votes and their so-called 'cabinets' are seriously lack of representativeness.  But they are so powerful that their schoolmates give them a wide berth, school authorities can do nothing about them, and even the education authority of the SAR Government has to acknowledge their 'representativeness'.  But can they really represent all students' interests, wills and aspirations?   Have their advocate for 'independence for Hong Kong' and violent words and deeds been widely consulted and discussed inside the schools, and agreed and supported by the majority of students?  The answer obviously has just one word: No.

  Radical student unions' political orientation, words and deeds do not represent the stance and interests of the majority of students, but they own extremely big and nearly absolute powers under the effective regulations.  It is compulsory for all registered students of a university to become members of its student union, who have to pay membership fees each years, and even are automatically 'transferred' to become members of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, so much so that they are passively 'tied into' some political incident or resisting China and making trouble in Hong Kong.  Is this fair, reasonable and in accordance with the spirit of democracy?

  As a matter of fact, amidst some political, violent incidents on campuses in recent years, quite many students have already let out their angry roar: 'The student union does not represent me'.  A square academic cap is earned through hard studies for four years, so many students and their parents very much cherish and attach great importance to a graduation commencement which needless to say should be solemn and majestic.  But at such occasions in recent years, radical students have raised yellow umbrellas or posters and shouted slogans, or even made extremely impolite provocative acts against the Chief Executive as the Chancellor of the university, so much so that the graduation commencements were disgraced and shamed.  Isn’t it fair and reasonable that the evil behaviour of a small number of radical elements should deprive the majority of students of their right?    

  Facts are before our eyes, therefore, that it should no longer go on for a small number of radical students to control student unions to damage the rights and interests of universities and other students.  University authorities must make a thorough review to improve relevant regulations governing their student unions including their powers and duties.

  This proposal is absolutely not to suppress or restrict students from setting up their own organisations and participating in school affairs.  It should be a good thing for students to learn how to organise, manage and communicate in their four-year university life.  But the fact right now is, the practice staring from a good will has deteriorated and become different from what is originally expected.  A handful of radical students, as long as they are sufficiently fierce and vicious, can sew up everything and do whatever they want, not to be held responsible for anything or bear any consequence.  It turns out that the only consequence is that university student unions have become the 'hotbed' to raise anti-China trouble makers and pro-independence activists.  We already have seen Nathan Law Kwun-chung, Billy Fung Jing-en and others as the examples.  It is thus the unshirkable duty of the authorities of the eight universities to reconstruct the rightful functions of their student unions.  The SAR Government and society should also pay due attention to this.  

October 2018

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