Chinese University of Hong Kong governing council in favour of reform – but stops short of giving full support to controversial proposals
- Chinese University’s governing council will ‘actively cooperate with the Legislative Council to promote reform’, says chairman
- But body stops short of backing lawmakers’ proposal to allow external appointees to dominate governing council
Chinese University of Hong Kong’s governing council has reaffirmed its support for reforms but stopped short of giving its full backing to a controversial proposal by lawmakers to allow external appointees to dominate the body.
The university’s governing body declared its stance at the end of a regular meeting on Tuesday, after a petition in support of an alternative reform proposal gathered almost 1,600 signatures.
The petition was in response to a private members’ bill sponsored by three lawmakers who sit on the governing council as external appointees and are seeking to reduce its size and revamp its membership.
“Reform has been delayed for years. We will actively cooperate with the Legislative Council to promote reform,” council chairman Professor John Chai Yat-chiu said after the meeting.
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But he said the governing council still supported a proposal it raised in 2016 and which a university-established task force had endorsed in April.
Council vice-chairman Norman Chan Tak-lam said the 2016 proposal was about 80 per cent the same as the bill, and he believed Legco would discuss whether to incorporate their advice, such as cutting down the three existing lawmakers’ seats that the legislators had suggested keeping.
Asked if the council supported the trio’s proposals, Chai said: “Chinese University welcomes the lawmakers’ assistance in pushing the reform of the council.”
The bill, which is being vetted by a committee in Legco, seeks to greatly reduce the size of the council and limit the influence of university staff.
It suggested an overhaul of the body from 55 to 34 members while adjusting the ratio of external appointees to internal ones to 2:1. Internal members currently constitute half of the council.
Chai said he was not biased towards anyone or any group, and noted that the performance of individuals, including university vice-chancellor Rocky Tuan Sung-chi, was not discussed at the meeting.
Former Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying, meanwhile, has again hit out at Tuan. He claimed the value of a “million-dollar bonus” paid to the vice-chancellor had been hidden from Chai.
“After the black violence, someone renewed Rocky Tuan’s contract 18 months in advance in the dark. Someone concealed the amount of the bonus from the council’s chairman Professor Chai Yat-chiu,” Leung wrote on his Facebook page.
Black violence is a term used mainly by officials and pro-establishment figures to describe the 2019 anti-government protests.
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Tuan became a target of pro-Beijing politicians after the social unrest, as some accused him of sympathising with student protesters. Despite criticisms, he was reappointed for a further period of three years as vice-chancellor in April last year.
Leung, now a vice-chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the country’s top political advisory body, also called on the city’s anti-corruption agency to investigate the case and said Legco should use the Powers and Privileges Ordinance to probe further.
In a separate post, he also hit out at Tuan and university vice-president Eric Ng Shu-pui for being absent from a Legco meeting last week to discuss the lawmakers’ bill.
The proposal has sparked controversy among the university’s alumni and pro-establishment politicians.
Alumni lambasted the lawmakers behind the bill and accused them of trying to rush through the changes, while the pro-establishment bloc has called for greater scrutiny of the council.
The petition launched on July 22 by three alumni backs a milder reform proposal with former government officials and business leaders, as well as past and current staff, among signatories.
The petition accused the lawmakers on the council of ignoring the proposal endorsed by the university-established task force.
The alternative changes sought to downsize the council to 25 to 34 members, while keeping the ratio for external and internal members closer to 1:2.
877 back alternative plan to reform Chinese University of Hong Kong’s council
Some prominent figures have withdrawn their signatures, including Stanley Hui Hon-chung, chief executive of Greater Bay Airlines, and Lingnan University president Leonard Cheng Kwok-hon.
On Monday, Hui wrote to lawmaker Priscilla Leung Mei-fun, chair of the Legco committee reviewing the bill, explaining he had not realised his signature would contribute to antagonising Legco.
Cheng said he “did not have a sufficient grasp on the facts and evidence” of the matter. He urged Legco to preside over the proposal in a “civilised” manner, including listening to the opposition’s concerns and deciding technicalities flexibly.
