Fallacies in HKU magazine blasted Mary Ann Benitez and Kenneth Lau Thursday, January 15, 2015 In a rare outburst during a policy address, Leung Chun-ying attacked publications put out by the University of Hong Kong Students Union because, he said, they called for self-determination for SAR citizens. The 2014 February issue of Undergrad, the official magazine of the Hong Kong University Students Union, featured a cover story Hong Kong people deciding their own fate, he said, looking very put out by such content in the twice-a-year magazine. That followed a book titled Hong Kong Nationalism, published by Undergrad in 2013. It advocates that Hong Kong should find a way to self-reliance and self- determination, Leung said, adding: Undergrad and other students, including student leaders of the Occupy movement, have misstated some facts. He then urged political figures with close ties to student leaders to advise them against putting forward such fallacies. Undergrads February 2014 cover essay by Wong Chun-kit, assistant chief editor, had included the line: We need to defend the freedom of promoting independence of Hong Kong until death. In his post-address press briefing, Leung offered more examples of the Undergrad essays that jarred. And he again singled out Wong for supposedly writing about Hong Kong citizens being a people apart. The statements, the remarks, are not in line with our constitutional status, Leung said. He gave some erroneous descriptions of our status. Another essay to which Leung took exception was about Hong Kong people needing to fight for their future and the choices of relying on forces on the mainland or on foreign forces for independence. Leung Kai-ping, who was editor-in-chief of Undergrad in February last year, responded in the wake of yesterdays attack: CY Leung is smearing us. Independence is taboo for Hong Kong, but what we did is only put it out there for public discussion. The chief executive also pointed to another essay by an editor of Undergrad that compared Hong Kong with Singapore and looked at how the SAR could have its own military. You may think these are just occasional views expressed by students [who] are just speaking their minds, Leung said. Yet we are not talking about current affairs but crucial constitutional issues. Asked several times if he is trying to suppress freedom of the press and freedom of speech, Leung insisted that both are core values of Hong Kong. But the Undergrad and articles in the book really cause concern. The current editor-in-chief of Undergrad, Luke Yuen Yuen-lung, said there will not be a change in editorial direction. Were writing about things we believe in, he said, but no one is proposing independence. The next issue of Undergrad will be out on Tuesday, with the focus on what follows the Umbrella Movement. And a staffer at HK Reader, which specializes in university books, said all 10 copies of Hong Kong Nationalism in stock were sold within two hours of Leung finishing his address and weve received 10 orders for it.
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 03:05:58 +0000
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