Hong Kong should learn from Scottish referendum, say legal experts

Hongkongers caught up in the heated political reform debate can draw lessons from the Scottish independence referendum by having more dialogue and less confrontation, two local legal academics say.

"The Scottish referendum was very well structured, civilised and based on the rule of law," Professor Fu Hualing said at a seminar hosted by the University of Hong Kong's law school.

Fu, an associate dean of the faculty, had just returned to Hong Kong from observing the poll in Edinburgh last week.

Hongkongers lacked opportunities for in-depth discussion compared with the Scots, Fu said.

"The only way [for Hongkongers] to participate [in the reform] is through street actions," he said. "Why don't we also organise a high school debate [like the Scots did] instead of having our students on the streets?"

About 8,000 teenage first-time voters in Scotland attended a televised debate in Glasgow to grill politicians from both the Yes and No camps a week before the poll. In Hong Kong, a group of secondary school students are joining their university counterparts in the class boycott today.