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Danny Mok

Tony Cheung

Phila Siu

Jeffie Lam

Two members of a mainland-friendly foundation have resigned after being seen in media reports having fun in a KTV lounge with several unidentified women during a recent visit to Beijing.
China-Australia Legal Exchange Foundation consultant Damien Shea Ying-fai, who is a solicitor, and associate member Raymond Yung Kai-man reportedly enjoyed themselves at a KTV venue for three consecutive nights during their free hours. Pictures of them singing while holding women in their arms were shown in media reports.
They resigned on Monday night, shortly after political heavyweight Maria Tam Wai-chu dropped her title of honorary consultant for the foundation.

It was not known whether the resignation by Tam, a Hong Kong delegate to the National People’s Congress and a Basic Law Committee member, was related to the KTV events.
Tam could not be reached for comment.
Both Shea and Yung are honorary presidents of the local section of the International Police Association. Shea is also a member of the Chao’an district committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in Guangdong.
Beijing ‘has the laws, guns and cannons to prevent independence’, legal expert warns
The foundation announced the trio’s resignations on Monday night in three statements posted on its Facebook page, without providing details.
The statement on Tam read: “We regret to advise that the Hon Maria Tam has informed her decision to resign from the Foundation as from 18:00 on 23 May 2016. We wish her well in her future endeavours and are very grateful of her contribution towards the Foundation in the past.”
An hour later, two separate statements on Shea and Yung following the same pattern as the one on Tam were released, without references to their contributions.

A reporter from Ming Pao Daily approached Shea at his workplace on Monday morning.
He refused to answer the reporter’s questions at first, but after walking up the stairs to the 16th floor with the reporter following him, he stopped for breath and said the KTV events were social activities for solicitors.
Everyone, no matter whether they are in Hong Kong or anywhere else, needs to watch their personal behaviour.
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying
Yung told the daily that the women in the photos were performers, and the events were private gatherings.
The foundation’s executive council chairman Lawrence Ma Yan-kwok, a pro-Beijing barrister who led the 37-strong tour group, of which Tam was also a member, told the media on Monday that the foundation would not intervene in members’ activities after official functions as long as they were legal.
Asked to comment on the Ming Pao report, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said on Tuesday morning: “Everyone, no matter whether they are in Hong Kong or anywhere else, needs to watch their personal behaviour.”
The foundation’s May 18 to 21 Beijing visit, dubbed the “One Belt and One Road Beijing Tour”, was widely reported after the group had a closed-door meeting with Basic Law Committee vice-chairman Zhang Rongshun.
On Saturday, Ma apparently misquoted Zhang as saying that the central government would be able to handle the issue with “guns and cannons” if activists gathered enough strength to make Hong Kong an independent state.
The remarks and the outcry that followed prompted Tam to clarify matters the next day. The legal expert’s conclusion was that only law and public opinion would be used to handle the issue, she emphasised.
Beijing will use law and public opinion to handle Hong Kong independence issue, not guns, insists prominent lawyer
The foundation, which was co-founded by Ma in 2014, says on its website that its members position themselves as a mutual legal exchange platform for Hong Kong and Australian lawyers to better understand the law of mainland China, as well as to provide a legal perspective on current affairs issues.
The foundation is led by a seven-strong executive council, chaired by Ma, and an advisory board with 27 consultants, before the exit of Tam, Yung and Shea.
If everyone has to resign when there is a wrongdoer in a professional body, those bodies will have no members at all.
Foundation advisory board member Ambrose Lau
With Tam’s departure, Ambrose Lau Hon-chuen, a local delegate to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, is the only honorary consultant on the board.
Other consultants include University of Hong Kong law professor and Basic Law Committee member Albert Chen Hung-yee, pro-establishment lawmaker Dr Priscilla Leung Mei-fun, former Director of Immigration Eric Chan Kwok-ki and retired judge Peter Nguyen.
Lau said he would not resign.
“I did not take part in the trip and did not know anything about what happened,” Lau said. “If everyone has to resign when there is a wrongdoer in a professional body, those bodies will have no members at all.”
The incident raised questions about how seriously Hong Kong professionals and Beijing loyalists take their mainland visits.
The Hong Kong Professionals and Senior Executives Association will be visiting Beijing and Sichuan in September, but former president Lo Wai-kwok told the Post that there was no need to remind participants about the dos and don’ts.
“I think KTV lounges are sensitive places ... and people could easily misunderstand why you are going there,” Lo said. “But we are professionals, we know we shouldn’t do things that hurt our image.”


KTV scandal: two members quit foundation after being caught frolicking on Beijing trip

(From right) Raymond Yung Kai-man and Damien Shea Ying-fai during the foundation’s Beijing tour. Photo: SCMP Pictures

= DO NOT ARCHIVE = Damien Shea Ying-fai, standing at the upper right corner of the banner, during China-Australia Legal Exchange Foundation Beijing tour in May. SCMP Pictures (UNDATED HANDOUT)

Basic Law Committee member Maria Tam Wai-chu (Right), attends the International Law Conference of 25th Anniversary of Hong Kong Basic Law at City University in Kowloon Tong. 12APR15

Beijing will use law and public opinion to handle Hong Kong independence issue, not guns, insists prominent lawyer

Hong Kong National Party convenor Chan Ho-tin speaks in Mong Kok. Photo: Sam Tsang

Singing a different tune: China’s KTV firms change tack to lure back young customers

A Chinese man sings along to lyrics at a karaoke bar in Guangdong. Photo: Cecilie Gamst Berg

A man belts out a popular Chinese song as he takes part in an outdoor karaoke contest in Beijing in the late '90s. Photo: Reuters

Karaoke grew in popularity throughout mainland China after it was imported from Taiwan and Japan. Here, two ethnic minority women sing at a KTV session in Yunnan province. Photo: AFP

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Media reports show Damien Shea and Raymond Yung from China-Australia Legal Exchange Foundation in lounge with unidentified women


KTV scandal: two members quit foundation after being caught frolicking on Beijing trip

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Media reports show Damien Shea and Raymond Yung from China-Australia Legal Exchange Foundation in lounge with unidentified women

Media reports show Damien Shea and Raymond Yung from China-Australia Legal Exchange Foundation in lounge with unidentified women