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Elsie Leung Oi-sie (right), a voluntary adviser to the editorial board of the kit, insisted the chart illustrating ties between the city and the central government was correct; while Cheung Yui-fai (left), director of the education research department at the pro-democracy Professional Teachers' Union, said the new resources highlighted Beijing's power over Hong Kong. Photos: Jonathan Wong, Sam Tsang

Hong Kong government's school kit on Basic Law triggers more doubts

Does the city come under the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office or directly under Beijing? The answer is both, according to a chart

Peter So

A close look at a new Basic Law teaching kit for secondary schools has thrown up more questionable elements, this time over its placement of the city under Beijing's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office in a chart illustrating ties between the city and the central government.

The package was also found wanting in teaching pupils about civil rights, instead stressing Beijing's authority over the city, a pro-democracy teacher said.

Critics have accused the government of seeking to brainwash the young and push Beijing's view of the mini-constitution since the launch of the Education Bureau kit on Wednesday.

Elsie Leung Oi-sie, a voluntary adviser to the editorial board of the kit, insisted the chart was correct because one of the office's duties was to manage the city's affairs.

"The State Council's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office manages Hong Kong affairs directly," Leung, who is also vice-chairwoman of the national legislature's Basic Law Committee, said yesterday.

"But the chart also states Hong Kong comes directly under the Central People's Government in accordance with Basic Law Article 12. Therefore, it is not a new concept."

According to the council's website, the office's duties include advising the central government on Hong Kong policies and legal issues related to the implementation of the Basic Law; implementing the central government's policies on the city; and related liaison duties.

The package of factsheets and multimedia materials was released to mark the 25th anniversary of the promulgation of the Basic Law last month.

Critics said it appeared to contradict the concept of judicial independence, in a chapter that states "the executive authorities, the legislature, and judiciary check and balance one another and they can also coordinate with one another".

Cheung Yui-fai, director of the education research department at the pro-democracy Professional Teachers' Union, said the new resources highlighted Beijing's power over Hong Kong while neglecting to mention the city's civil rights and rule of law.

Impartial and comprehensive instruction on the Basic Law was absent, Cheung said, as the kit had excluded the controversy and opposition from locals that marred the drafting of the mini-constitution in the 1980s.

"It looks like an attempt to instil a sense of national identity, but it deliberately ignores the teaching of civil rights to pupils," he said. Therefore, "we may provide our own version of the teaching kit to counterbalance the government's version".

But a veteran China watcher, Johnny Lau Yui-siu, said the Politburo Standing Committee - which comprises the top leaders of the Communist Party - had the final say on the city's affairs. "How the chart illustrates the government structure is really the thing that matters the least."

Lau said teachers should refer to more materials when they taught Chinese politics and the Basic Law in class.

 

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Basic Law school kit continues to baffle
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