Why are Hong Kong’s young people abandoning student unions?
Once a fertile breeding ground for numerous activists, politicians and policymakers, there is now deep disillusionment with the traditional vehicle for student activism
Au Nok-hin is the youngest member of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, but the 30-year-old is an old hand at working the ground to champion his cause.
He cut his teeth as the internal secretary of Chinese University’s student union 10 years ago, where he scrutinised the institution’s development plans and took part in protests, such as when the then vice chancellor gave an honorary degree to the city’s unpopular former leader Tung Chee-hwa.
“I also learned how to contact reporters and issue statements, something I might not have known how to do as just a student,” Au said.
Indeed, student union leaders in Hong Kong’s eight publicly funded universities and other tertiary institutions have often been seen as the voice of young people, especially in the political movements that have swept through the city.