Presidents of government-funded universities step up calls for Chief Executive Carrie Lam to meet demands of extradition protesters
- Wei Shyy, head of the University of Science and Technology, calls on government to launch an independent inquiry
- And Stephen Cheung, the head of Education University, says city administration should declare complete withdrawal of extradition bill
Two university presidents have stepped up their calls for Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to meet the demands of protesters so Hong Kong society can move beyond the escalating extradition crisis and start healing the city’s deep divisions.
In an open letter on Wednesday, Wei Shyy, head of the University of Science and Technology, called on the Lam administration to “demonstrate its courage and leadership to respond and act [to] continuing requests to launch an investigation”.
Shyy was the first leader of a local university to support protesters’ calls to set up an independent inquiry into the political fiasco created by the government’s now-shelved extradition bill. Various sectors of society, including civil servants, politicians, lawyers, former government officials and social workers, had also appealed for an investigation.
Shyy’s letter coincided with remarks on Wednesday by Professor Stephen Cheung Yan-leung, the head of Education University, who revealed that he had written to Lam and urged her to declare “the complete withdrawal of the bill”, which was another demand of the protesters.
Shyy and Cheung, presidents of government-funded universities, spoke days after the president of Lingnan University, Leonard Cheng Kwok-hon, took the unusual step of attend a rally in Yuen Long rally on July 27 as an observer – a gesture seen as showing sympathy to the young protesters.