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Gary Cheung

Hundreds of friends of Szeto Wah, family members and government officials paid respects to the democracy stalwart at mourning sessions  at a church in Tsim Sha Tsui last night.  
Szeto Wai-kon, Szeto Wah's younger brother, recited a piece written by the poet Ai Qing, Szeto Wah's favourite. 'Why are my eyes always full of tears? It is because my love for this land is too deep.' 
A five-minute video  of  Szeto's  life was screened during the sessions.
Szeto, chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, died of lung cancer on January 2 at the age of 79.
Three  memorial sessions were arranged for Szeto's family, pan-democrat friends and educators at  the Tsim Sha Tsui Baptist Church.
About a dozen officials from the Education Bureau, including Secretary for Education Michael Suen Ming-yeung and Permanent Secretary for Education Cherry Tse Ling Kit-ching,  attended as well as Executive Councillors Anthony Cheung Bing-leung  and Leong Che-hung. 
Wong Fook-yau, who was at the GCEPSA Kwun Tong Primary School  in the 1960s when  Szeto  was headmaster,  recalled  Szeto's spirit of never giving up on a  student. 
Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen will attend the 1pm public mourning session  today.  
Six other government officials, including the director of the Chief Executive's Office, Raymond Tam Chi-yuen,  Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs Raymond Young Lap-moon,  Undersecretary for Home Affairs Florence Hui Hiu-fai  and Undersecretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Adeline Wong Ching-man,  will also attend.  
But Tsang and those officials will not attend the funeral. The government line-up has fuelled criticism that Tsang and other high-ranking officials are avoiding Szeto's funeral, during which the church bell will ring in memory of the June 4 crackdown. 
The Reverend Chu Yiu-ming,  chairman of Szeto's funeral committee, said: 'It would be regrettable if some people chose not to pay respects to Szeto, who  made a tremendous contribution to the pursuit of social justice, simply because of political reasons.' 
Dr Fung Wai-wah,  president of the Professional Teachers' Union and a member of the  funeral committee, said 20  seats were initially offered to government representatives to attend the  funeral  at St Andrew's Church on Nathan Road today.  
'Late last week, the government said it would take only 10. But on Thursday, it said officials would not attend the funeral,' Fung said.
He  said the government might have political considerations in making the U-turn. 'It's  just an occasion to pay respect to Mr Szeto. I think the arrangements should not be taken too sensitively.'
When asked about the change yesterday,  Tsang had no comment.




Hundreds of mourners pay respect to Szeto