Resignation issue irrelevant, says Arthur Li
The education chief says his job is to improve education with less resources
Hong Kong's education chief yesterday dismissed calls for him to resign, saying that attention should instead be focused on resolving the budget deficit.
After being conferred with an honorary doctorate at the Chinese University, Arthur Li Kwok-cheung said those calling for him to quit were missing the point and that the resignation issue was irrelevant.
'My job is to ensure that we have adequate funding for education and that the standard of education will not suffer,' he said.
Staff representatives from various universities called for his resignation yesterday, citing his authoritarian attitude as one reason.
They also questioned Professor Li's integrity after a student leader said he had seen the minister playing computer games during the Legislative Council education panel meeting on Monday. Professor Li has not admitted that he did so.
'He has set a bad example for students by not admitting what he had done,' said Chan Che-wai, vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Federation of Higher Education Staff Associations.
Other university representatives said Professor Li had shown that he despised them by not listening. Professor Li said he had read all the papers submitted to the meeting beforehand. But yesterday, Dr Chan said only 15 of the 26 groups present had written submissions.
He asked: 'How can he be a policy secretary when he refused to take responsibility over what he had done? Hong Kong's future will be doomed if we allow our future generations to act like that.'
Professor Li said he was still negotiating with Financial Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen over the education budget. 'The issue now is the budget deficit. The most important [thing] is not whether I should apologise, whether I have shown a lack of respect [to Legco], but how to improve education with less resources.'
Universities face steep cuts in the next four years due to the budget deficit.
Dr Chan's group also accused Professor Li of reaping double benefits by staying in the Chinese University vice-chancellor's lodge after taking his ministerial post.
. Professional Teachers Union representatives attending Monday's education panel meeting were not among those who suggested that funding could be withdrawn from the Native English-speaking Teachers scheme as a means of cutting spending, contrary to what was reported in the South China Morning Post.
Harry's View - A20
