Topic
Alpais Lam Wai-sze, a teacher at Pui Ling School of the Precious Blood in Fanling, sparked a protest in Mong Kok on August 4, 2013, after a viral video from July 14 showed her shouting profanity at police officers. In the clip, Lam was seen openly criticising the way the police were handling a confrontation between the Falun Gong and the Youth Care Association. Lam has taught for 18 years and won the Chief Executive's Award for Teaching Excellence in the 2010/2011 academic year.
As they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Many of my friends rhapsodise about traditional Chinese medicine. But as soon as they develop a serious ailment or a life-threatening condition, they all run to consult a real doctor.
I've yet to meet someone who doesn't swear. Some people do it all the time, others rarely, but I do not believe there is anyone who has never uttered bad language. I was therefore initially sympathetic to primary school teacher Alpais Lam Wai-sze, who is being ever-so-publicly hauled over the coals for using three choice words - two in Cantonese, another in English - to police officers. But my thinking has dramatically changed after I was at the receiving end on a bus of some of the self-same profanity.
Robin Williams, in one of his most comical movie scenes, taught a class of Asians how to swear in English. His students loved him for teaching them something useful. I was reminded of this when the Education Bureau said it had received more than 1,000 e-mails and 150 phone calls about primary school teacher Alpais Lam Wai-sze. Most were critical of her swearing at police officers in public.
Education Bureau says her actions during Falun Gong dispute had ‘affected the dignity of the education profession’
An accountant who was allegedly attacked during a heated rally over the swearing-teacher affair last year will ask the Department of Justice to consider an appeal.
The alleged offences took place on August 4 last year, the day supporters and opponents of primary school teacher Alpais Lam Wai-sze staged rallies in Mong Kok, after an online video of Lam verbally attacking police officers over their handling of a Falun Gong protest went viral.
While the bureau was still "arranging related information to form the report" concerning teacher Alpais Lam Wai-sze, it told the South China Morning Post that it would not be revealing any details from it.
There are no plans to make insulting police punishable by law, the security chief said yesterday in reply to questions from pro-Beijing legislators bemoaning a loss of respect for the force.
More than two-thirds of teachers think using foul language should be regulated as part of the profession's code of conduct, a survey has found. The Education Convergence interviewed about 2,800 teachers and asked them what kind of behaviour they considered a breach of the profession's ethics, and whether they had ever been guilty of such behaviour.
The case of Alpais Lam Wai-sze, the teacher who swore at police during an altercation concerning Falun Gong protesters, raises important issues for the Hong Kong community.
A small group of protesters arrived at a Fanling primary school on Monday morning to petition for the suspension of teacher Alpais Lam Wai-sze, claiming she had set a bad example for students after swearing at police during a protest in July.
Police say a group has changed its plan to protest outside a Fanling primary school against one of its teachers after she swore at officers for their handling of a street dispute, which triggered controversy.
A plan by police supporters to play a video of teacher Alpais Lam Wai-sze swearing at a policeman outside her school on the first day after the holidays has been met with criticism, even from an ally.
The government's attempts to end the controversy surrounding a teacher's swearing at police officers may fall on deaf ears. Supporters of a radical pro-government group plan to protest next month when the school year starts, and the teacher's backers have launched a petition.
And the Education Bureau has already met and issued Alpais Lam Wai-sze with an official penalty notice. The school refused to reveal the details of the penalty, citing privacy reasons, but Lam said her contract with the school would not be affected.
For the past two weeks, I have been trying to wrap my brain around the incident where a young female primary school teacher swore like a trooper at police officers. But all I have to show for my efforts so far is a headache. There are just too many loose ends.
Education minister Eddie Ng Hak-kim said the government received more than 1,400 e-mailed inquiries and 150 phone calls about teacher Alpais Lam Wai-sze swearing at police officers. Most described her behaviour as unacceptable. Ng said 90 per cent of the 150 callers were critical of Lam's behaviour.
Protesters fear there could be chaos during Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying’s next meet-the-people session on Sunday. Their increased concern comes amid accusations by the Civic Party and others that Leung has links to triad groups – an allegation his office strenuously denies.
The dissidents made a big mistake by staging a mass confrontation on August 4. They stormed the stage of a pro-police rally organised in the wake of a political row sparked by a video. The video, which went viral, showed a schoolteacher hurling verbal abuse at police officers at an earlier protest.
A police district crime squad has been tasked with investigating the incident involving primary school teacher Alpais Lam Wai-sze, who was filmed shouting abuse at police officers over their handling of a dispute between Falun Gong activists and opponents earlier.
A town hall meeting in Tin Shui Wai on Sunday was supposed to enable the chief executive to listen to the livelihood concerns of local people. Instead he began his speech with a defence of police actions at a rally in Mong Kok the previous Sunday, when groups clashed over a verbal attack on officers last month. He sent out a surprisingly strong message to the whole city that he supports the police, as any city mayor in other countries would do.
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's "unprecedented" call for a report on a teacher verbally abusing police officers last month has drawn criticism from educators and pan-democrats.
Leung started his speech by expressing support for the police handling of the melee in Mong Kok on August 4, when groups clashed over teacher Alpais Lam Wai-sze's verbal attack on officers the previous month.
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said he would ask the education minister to submit a report on controversial video clips showing primary school teacher Alpais Lam Wai-sze shouting abuse at police officers during a dispute in Mong Kok.
What began as a row between a primary school teacher and a few policemen at the way officers were handling a dispute has escalated into a political movement that has sharply divided the city.
