Action, not words, needed to tackle separatism on campus

With all the publicity, it should be pretty well known to all Hong Kong citizens, especially university students, the “red line” set by President Xi Jinping that “any attempt to endanger China’s sovereignty ... is an act that crosses the red line, and is absolutely impermissible in Hong Kong”.

Yet university student representatives one after another continue to use the annual inauguration ceremonies for new school terms to advocate Hong Kong independence. We heard the Education University of Hong Kong student representative openly calling for Hong Kong independence. Meanwhile posters promoting this insane idea were prominently displayed at the university entrance. Mind you, this is the same display board where posters congratulating the undersecretary for education after her son committed suicide last year were placed! It is very worrying to think that these are the students who would one day become teachers for our future generations!

Other university student representatives appealed to students to rise to “join the revolution”, describing Beijing as a “foreign government” and Putonghua as a foreign language, etc. It’s worth reflecting where on earth did they get infected with such poisonous notions against a central government which has won international admiration for its many unprecedented successes, including wholesale eradication of extreme poverty, economic prosperity and benign international influence.

Yet in spite of such extreme misbehavior, all we heard were anodyne admonitions from the university presidents and senior government officials, with words like “regrets”, “inappropriate”, and “unnecessary”. One university vice-chancellor even claimed that the topic (of Hong Kong independence) can be discussed on campus. And as long as it is discussed rationally and nonviolently, it is permissible! It was left to Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to voice the appropriate condemnation.

You would have to be naive in the extreme to think that such namby-pamby reactions would deter these student radicals from escalating their disruptive and self-defeating campaigns further. Not surprisingly, the Chinese University of Hong Kong student union is already planning to invite Andy Chan Ho-tin of the Hong Kong National Party to speak at their university campus.

This reminds me of another quote by President Xi “Wei guan bi shi ping sheng chi” (public officials who shirk their responsibilities should be ashamed of themselves for the rest of their lives!). Not many of us are aware that all our university presidents enjoy some of the highest remunerations in Hong Kong, with some getting HK$7 million plus in annual salaries and allowances. Surely such high pay entails bold decisions that are necessary to ensure a conducive learning environment on their respective campuses. They can take a page from our successful fight against endemic corruption that paralyzed our society in the 1950s to early 1970s that combined zero tolerance with public education.

Back then, all incoming new governors and new commissioners of police from the UK would vow to eradicate the evil of corruption but they proved to be empty words as they were not backed by firm action. And corruption continued to thrive during their terms of office. Of course most of them retired with tons of personal luggage full of valuables back to the UK!

Other than mere words, are there any effective deterrent actions the presidents of the universities can take? One year ago, these 10 university presidents issued a joint statement declaring their unified opposition to Hong Kong independence. Now they should get their heads together and formulate a common guideline for all universities, to make it clear along the line: “Although freedoms of speech and expression are permitted on campus, they should be subject to the laws of Hong Kong governing conspiracies to commit crime, as well as the Basic Law which states that Hong Kong is an ‘inalienable part’ of China. Hence any promotion of Hong Kong independence or separatist activities such as display of slogans and posters to that effect should be strictly prohibited on the campus. All offenders should be disciplined and liable to expulsion from the university.”

With that discipline code in place, the university management should require their respective student union to confirm whether their student representative’s speeches at the inauguration ceremony are endorsed by the student union. If so, the union will be held liable for the speech. If it were found to be in breach of the code, it should be disbanded for re-election. If negative, the speaker should be held personally responsible for his speech and subject to disciplinary action. It is important that all disciplinary proceedings should follow a transparent and agreed procedure but the end result and sanction should be publicly announced in order that all students are made aware of the consequences and that if they breach the rules, they can expect negative repercussions to their future!

The university presidents can also jointly agree that, in future, all incoming new students should sign a sworn statement declaring allegiance to the Basic Law, similar to the legislators. That can be incorporated as a requirement for the Joint University Programmes Admissions System. This requirement should also apply to all university staff.

University students should be made aware that their studies are heavily subsidized by our taxpayers. It is not intended to advance their personal political agenda. Rather they should be made aware of their responsibility to repay the community in due course through exemplary work. If they find this to be an unreasonable trade-off, there are thousands of patriotic student candidates ready and willing to take their place. On the school curriculum, the government should introduce Chinese History as a compulsory subject for DSE, or incorporate it in the current Liberal Studies program.

Finally, the government should not delay any further in enacting local laws for Article 23 of the Basic Law. The pressing need for it is selfevident in the recent actions of extremists such as pro-independence activist Andy Chan Ho-tin and some university union presidents.