Hong Kong's Dubious Achievement Awards 2015
This year was never going to live up to 2014, when thousands hit the streets for Occupy Central. But the fact remains that 2015 has been notable mainly because nothing got done.
Why won’t it just end? The saga over who will be second-in-command at HKU has been dragging on for an entire year now. 2015 saw some god-level prevarication as the HKU Council—several of whom are directly appointed by CY Leung—repeatedly voted to delay the discussion over the appointment of legal scholar Johannes Chan to the post of Pro-Vice Chancellor. The move was almost certainly motivated by Chan’s close ties to pro-democracy figures, including Occupy Central founder Benny Tai.
The delays lead to a group of students storming an HKU conference room and knocking respected surgeon and apparent crybaby Lo Chung-mau to the ground, where he remained clutching his knee, giving rise to countless memes. A leaked recording of an HKU Council meeting led to a gag order being taken out to prevent the media from reporting it. In September
the HKU Council finally rejected the appointment for good.
The problem isn’t whether Chan would have made a good university boss. The problem is that HKU is a publicly funded institution... and the whole process has been as transparent as a cup of Hong Kong milk tea. It seems all too obvious why Chan’s been blocked from the post: Not a pleasant conclusion to draw.
Chan’s out of the running, but the university still needs a second-in-command. This messy business isn’t going anywhere.
Most Questionable Decision: Sitting on the Ken Tsang Trial
On October 15 during the Occupy Central protests, activist Ken Tsang was allegedly beaten by seven police officers in a dark corner of Tamar Park. A video of the incident was captured by a TVB cameraman. The police officers alleged to be involved were identified and then suspended—on full pay—pending an investigation. A year later, we were still waiting for the results. It seemed an awful lot like someone was dragging their heels on the investigation: Not exactly what the public wanted from a police force which needs to regain public trust post-Occupy.
The seven officers finally appeared in the Eastern Court for a preliminary hearing on October 19, a year and four days after the alleged incident. Also appearing in the court at the same time, on the same day: Ken Tsang, charged with assaulting and obstructing police. Some Eastern Court clerk appears to have a well developed sense of irony.