HKU council member questions candidate Johannes Chan's motives in appointment controversy
Council member says conduct of Johannes Chan suggests that he doesn't want key post
University of Hong Kong council member Arthur Li Kwok-cheung has criticised a legal scholar for behaving in a way that "suggested he does not want to be appointed" to a key managerial post at the university.
Li, a former education minister, also admitted that he once considered endorsing Professor Johannes Chan Man-mun's appointment as a pro-vice-chancellor, based on the former law dean's résumé.
Last Tuesday, a group of students stormed a HKU council meeting after members voted down a motion demanding it stop delaying the appointment until a provost is named.
Condemning the incident, Li told TVB's Straight Talk "if [Chan] really loves HKU … all this havoc would make you think again, and say: 'Do I want to cause so much controversy at … the university I love?'"
"But instead of doing that, he goes on and says there's a middleman telling him to step down but he won't and so on," Li said, referring to claims made by Chan last Wednesday.
Li's remarks came as the state-run People's Daily said yesterday it would be "the best choice to safeguard the HKU and the social consensus" for Chan to "give up" his candidacy.