Advertisement
Advertisement
HKU council controversy
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
Anabelle Mak (left) and Zhu Ke. Postgraduate students at the University of Hong Kong will vote next Monday to pick their representative in the institution’s governing council. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Forum snub: students running for seat on University of Hong Kong's council stall on attending meet-the-voters event

Postgraduate pair running for council seat amid political storm stall on invitation to meet voters

Two postgraduate students who are running for a hot seat on the University of Hong Kong's governing council amid a months-long political storm shrouding the body have shunned invitations to an on-campus forum to explain their positions to voters.

By last night, neither mainlander Zhu Ke nor local student Anabelle Mak Wing-man had confirmed with student organisers their attendance at the event, slated for today or tomorrow.

Zhu said yesterday he had not been in contact with Beijing's liaison office in the city, which is known to keep contact with some mainland students.

"I'm only a simple student. I don't even know where the liaison office is," Zhu said.

The vacated council seat, representing postgraduate students, is considered significant after the majority of HKU council members voted down pro-democracy scholar Professor Johannes Chan Man-mun's candidacy for pro-vice-chancellorship, a move seen by some as politically motivated.

The event organiser - a concern group formed by law students - criticised Zhu and Mak for "shunning voters".

Group spokesman Johnson Yeung Ching-yin said it had invited them to attend its consultation forum as "the only chance" for voters to get in touch with them, but that Zhu had not given a final reply by the 6.30pm deadline he set last night, while Mak had never responded.

"I contacted both over three days and yesterday Zhu agreed to come," Yeung said yesterday. "Then today, he said he had to check the rules first and suddenly suggested we do it tonight, which is impossible. He's stalling."

HKU undergraduates and postgraduates have one delegate each in the 22-member council.

Earlier yesterday, Zhu said he had yet to decide, citing a schedule clash and the fact the other candidate might not show up.

Asked if he agreed there was political interference in HKU, he said: "Only the council members know. I don't know what happened inside … But it's true the council has some problems."

He said he joined a protest last week to defend HKU autonomy, and would propose a review of the council's operation, including raising the proportion of staff and student representatives.

A three-page leaflet produced by Mak makes no mention of the university's governance.

Last week, Mak, a linguistics student, told the Post she "did not have enough information" to form a view on the Chan affair because media reports were "superficial". She disagreed with a student delegate's disclosure of the council's closed-door talks on Chan's appointment, "because rules should be followed". She has yet to respond to the latest Post queries about the forum.

Meanwhile, an alumni concern group is proposing to hold an emergency meeting of the HKU Convocation, which represents all alumni, to discuss matters including whether to "condemn" the council decision.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: HKU hopefuls silent on forum
Post