Student 'happy' to take TSA exam? Hong Kong lawmakers trade political jabs over testimony at Legco hearing
A young daughter of a pro-establishment party official speaks in favour of the city-wide test, eliciting a call to disclose
People have the right to speak in different capacities, argued a pro-establishment lawmaker, fending off criticism that a fellow party member – and his young daughter – had spoken in defence of a controversial city-wide exam without declaring political affiliation at yesterday’s hearing.
“I’m a lawmaker and a parent. We have different identities,” said Starry Lee Wai-king, chairwoman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, in reference to testimony given by the party’s deputy spokesman Danny Chan Chung-cheung.
“[The DAB] never arranged or advocated nor looked over his speech,” she said in a Commercial Radio phone interview. “He was just expressing his opinion as a parent.”
READ MORE: TSA exam sceptics keep pressure on Hong Kong officials to abolish unpopular test
Nearly all of the 130 individuals who appeared at yesterday’s Legislative Council hearing called for an end to the Territory-wide System Assessment. Their ranks ranged from parents and teachers to school principals and even schoolchildren.
Eyebrows were therefore raised when primary four pupil Kitty Chan gave a speech in support of the exam and how it made her “happy”.
League of Social Democrats lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung immediately pointed out that the girl’s father, sitting right beside her, was the DAB’s deputy spokesman.
Chan later admitted that he had written the speech for his daughter, but was proud of her “independent thought” and courage to speak her mind at Legco.
Speaking in defence of Chan, who lost a bid for a District Council election seat in 2011, fellow DAB member Lee said everyone had the right to speak in the legislature. She said whether or not he had to declare his party affiliation was down to Legco regulations.
“How would I know if the other speakers had political affiliations?” Lee asked. Two other children, Hung Ngai-yam and Poon Long-kiu, also spoke yesterday, saying the exam compounded their considerable homework load and detracted from their leisure time.
READ MORE: Hong Kong’s TSA exam marks should be simple pass or fail to lower the stakes for pupils, ex-official says
Introduced in 2004 to assess Primary Three, Six and Form Three pupils in Chinese, English and maths, the exams were criticised for leading to drilling and excessive homework.
Lee and other pro-government lawmakers were also slammed by angry parents yesterday for not backing a motion tabled last week by People Power lawmaker Albert Chan Wai-yip to abolish the exam.
“We parents have this on record,” said parent Ho Nga-lai, referring to the 24 lawmakers who opposed or abstained from the motion and the 18 who were absent.
“We know. You will have to bear the consequences for your decisions.”
