Advertisement
Advertisement
Hong Kong extradition bill
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
Student Union leaders at a Hong Kong Federation of Students press conference on Friday. Photo: Winson Wong

Student leaders at eight Hong Kong universities tell Carrie Lam they will only meet her in public and if extradition bill protesters are exonerated

  • Leaders of student unions lay down two prerequisites for talks with government
  • Chief executive had invited student leaders from two universities to meeting via schools’ administrations, a move advisers call ‘bureaucratic’

Student leaders at eight Hong Kong universities issued a joint statement to Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on Friday, saying a dialogue she initiated would only take place if she promised to organise public town hall meetings and exonerate extradition bill protesters facing charges.

The students laid down the conditions for talks with the city’s leader as the Hong Kong Bar Association also called for the government to communicate openly with society at large.

It was revealed on Thursday that the government had invited, through the administrations of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and Chinese University, student leaders from both universities to a private meeting. The students rejected the offer.

The government’s overture came after hundreds of mostly young protesters stormed the city’s legislature on July 1 to call for the withdrawal of the now-suspended bill, which would have allowed the transfer of fugitives to mainland China and other jurisdictions with which the city had no extradition agreement.

Jacky So Tsun-fung, president of Chinese University’s student union, said student representatives from eight local universities had agreed they would not meet the chief executive unless two prerequisites were met.

Jordan Pang Ka-ho, a student representative from the University of Hong Kong (HKU), said: “Firstly, Lam must promise that she will never go after those who took part in protests from June 9 to July 1.

“The meeting she organises must also be open … and include representatives from different sectors. If it is just a closed-door meeting, what is said will not be recorded,” Pang said, adding the media should be allowed to film the meeting so Lam’s remarks would be broadcast around the world.

Carrie Lam speaking at a press conference on Tuesday morning after protesters stormed the Legislative Council building. Photo: Edmond So

The eight student unions that have agreed on the matter are from HKU, HKUST, Chinese University, Polytechnic University, Baptist University, Education University, City University, and the Academy for Performing Arts.

Hong Kong protest suspect tells court police assaulted him after arrest

On a radio show on Friday, Vincent Ng Yat-ming, external vice-president of the HKUST Student Union, was asked whether students would prefer engaging officials through internet chat groups.

Ng said a public meeting with officials would be preferable.

“Dialogue on the internet would be more confusing … it won’t work if everyone throws in a line,” Ng added.

Protesters storm the podium of the Legislative Council chamber on Monday. Photo: Felix Wong

Academics and the government’s advisers said Lam’s idea that the universities’ administration would help her arrange private meetings with students suggested the chief executive remained too bureaucratic in her thinking.

Baptist University social work lecturer Dr Catherine Leung Lai-yee, who specialises in youth issues, said having regular town hall meetings could help officials to improve their relationship with young people.

“It would be better than holding closed-door meetings. But I also think some rules should be laid down beforehand so that the open meetings can be held peacefully,” Leung said.

Protesters at a demonstration in Wan Chai on July 1. Photo: Winson Wong

“Social participation is important for young people. The government should consider setting up bodies such as a youth council for young people to express their views and debate policies.”

Leung believed that town hall meetings and policy debates will help officials and young people to develop mutual trust and understanding. She also said the bill should be withdrawn to alleviate young people’s worries that it might be revived.

Exclusive: Protester who stormed Hong Kong’s legislature reveals his side of story

HKU professor Joseph Chan Cho-wai, who served as a middleman facilitating dialogue between then chief secretary Lam and student leaders during the Occupy protests in 2014, said: “There is no room for middlemen in this leaderless movement. It’s pointless for the government to propose a closed-door meeting with students now.”

Nixie Lam, a pro-establishment member of the Youth Development Commission, which advises the government on youth policies, also said the chief executive’s conventional approach would not work in defusing contentious issues.

“Carrie Lam is taking the route that she always has as an administrative officer … but this is not an administrative matter, it’s politics. It’s about people’s feelings,” she said.

Nixie Lam suggested government officials take a more down-to-earth approach and pick a few public areas where they could have an open dialogue with students in smaller groups.

Separately, the Bar Association issued a statement, calling for the government to communicate openly with society at large.

Radical core of Hong Kong protesters ‘prepared to die for their cause’

“Apart from compliance with the law, the rule of law also encompasses other equally important components, such as respect for human rights and civil liberties … the HKBA calls on the government to respond in a sincere way to the demands of the community voiced so emphatically over the past weeks,” the statement read.

Protesters massed outside the Legislative Council building on Monday night. Photo: Dickson Lee

The association also reiterated the importance of maintaining law and order, saying the protesters’ breaking into the legislative complex on July 1 had attracted much public concern and discussion and “that day saw some individuals committing a variety of criminal offences”.

The Law Society of Hong Kong issued a statement on July 2 to strongly condemn the storming of Legco, saying there was a line separating the lawful exercise of constitutional rights from unlawful activity.

Additional reporting by Gary Cheung and Elizabeth Cheung

Post