Two defendants for the chaotic siege of a University of Hong Kong (HKU) governing council meeting in January 2016: former president of HKU student union Billy Fung Jing-en and vice president Colman Li Fung-kei were convicted and sentenced to 240 hours and 200 hours of community service respectively for "disorderly conduct in a public place" and "obstructing a public officer in the performance of his duty".
The Secretary for Justice recently had filed judicial reviews on two court cases of similar nature, and as a result the sentences of the accused were changed to imprisonment of six to nine months from community service. After the verdicts on Billy Fung and Colman Li were handed down yesterday, the sentences of community service were immediately questioned. Some personages in legal and education sectors pointed out that the sentences were too lenient and thus had little deterrent effect.
As a matter of fact, regarding the court judgement and whether the sentences are two lenient, everyone can express his opinion. From the perspective of the general public or society, no one wants to make life difficult for young people or university students or to insist on putting Billy Fung and Colman Li into jail. Young people are treasured in society. It is not easy for one to be admitted into HKU, with his or her family's painstaking cultivation. Taking Billy Fung in this case for example, he is from a single-parent family and physically weak and sickish since childhood. Full of teardrops, his mother's letter of mitigation to the court earlier is deeply touching. However, "love well, whip well". What is worrying society is, some university students or young people do not care about their reputation, do not cherish supports from their parents and public funds, do not have the awareness of law-abiding, the sense of social responsibility and the conception of nation and state that a Chinese national should have, so that they wantonly assault and occupy, madly shouting "independence for Hong Kong". So much so that the public becomes disappointed of them and demands they be severely punished.
In this case of besieging an HKU council meeting, defendant Billy Fung, then student union president, was entitled to attend the meeting. But he had gone so far as to "fling open the gate and bow in the gangsters", opening the door of the meeting room in the midst of the meeting to let students and radical outsiders rush in. The meeting was disrupted. HKU council chairman Arthur Li Kwok-cheung was violently prevented from leaving the venue, and Billy Fung took the lead to shout "Kill him"; council member Leonie Ki Man-fung passed out and was about to be carried into an ambulance, but Colman Li, then vice president of the student union, lay down in front of the ambulance to prevent it from driving away… What explanations do they make today for their acts that totally ignored school regulations, laws and other people's life safety? Are their so-called repentances today meant their genuine recognition of their wrong-doings and their sincere apologies to persons concerned, or just some hypocritical words in exchange for community service?
At present, a prominent and serious problem with some university students and young people is that they, in their words and deeds, do not observe laws but do whatever they wish without restraint and without respect of others. For them, court rulings are just some kind of "suppression", which fail to make them face squarely their own words and deeds and mistakes. For instance, Joshua Wong Chi-fung, Nathan Law Kwun-chung and others serving their jail terms are visited everyday by opposition lawmakers, and crowned by American media as "political prisoners". Chris Pattern coming to make indiscreet criticisms in Hong Kong these days has even disgustingly flattered Joshua Wong as "the best young person" he has ever seen, encouraging him to continue "fighting for democracy" after being discharged from prison.
The focus of Western anti-China, anti-communist elements today is to solicit young people and university students, placing their hopes on Joshua Wong and his ilk to resist China, make trouble in Hong Kong and split China. Young people and university students who are willing to serve their Western masters and challenge the law personally will have to pay the price. Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, during her visit in UK, yesterday pointed out that the SAR's judicial fairness should not be discredited and stressed on the importance of the rule of law. Young people should have heard her words well and clearly. 22 September 2017
