A good lesson in Hong Kong on the value of free speech

Two of our political personalities made their way to a top girls' secondary school in Kowloon earlier this month.

Professor Benny Tai Yiu-ting spoke in the morning to explain his plan for the Occupy Central movement to undertake an exercise in civil disobedience to press for universal suffrage.

Former Legislative Council president, and serving National People's Congress Standing Committee member, Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai spoke in the afternoon to explain why, in her view, such a step would not persuade Beijing to move faster on political reform.

We should start by congratulating both speakers for taking the trouble to discuss these important issues with our young people. And we should also give a pat on the back to the school for demonstrating the vision - and the courage - to conduct such a potentially controversial event on school premises during term time.

But we should reserve most of our praise for the girls themselves. They treated the session seriously, researched the background thoroughly and confidently raised a series of penetrating questions. They then handled the media with an aplomb that would put most of our ministers to shame.

One of the questioners challenged Professor Tai on the issue of proportionality. When black people in the United States adopted tactics of peaceful protest to press for their civil rights, it was because they had endured generations of injustice. Was the situation in Hong Kong really so grave and urgent? It was a good question, and one with which many would agree.

But, in a subtle way, rather than reducing the validity of Professor Tai's argument, the whole session made a convincing case for pressing ahead with universal suffrage. When teenagers show maturity to this degree, who can seriously argue that Hong Kong is not ready for democracy?