HKFP reports the closure of Undergrad, the Hong Kong U student paper founded in 1952…
…after failing to recruit enough members for its editorial board …
In a statement, the 2025 editorial board attributes the move to ‘the natural ebb and flow of history’ – a nice touch of irony, perhaps.
HKFP points out that in recent years…
At least six universities, including HKU, have seen their student unions disbanded, evicted, or stripped of institutional ties.
How many independent student unions or publications still exist in Hong Kong?
In the Standard…
An off-duty police officer attached to the National Security Department admitted on Monday (Jun 29) to secretly filming beneath a woman’s skirt at an MTR station and attempting to seize a colleague’s loaded service revolver.
Ko Chun-chung, 39, pleaded guilty at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts, sitting as a District Court, to one count of unlawful recording or observing of intimate parts and one count of attempting to possess a firearm without a license.
I’m sure ossifer Ko Chun-chung is walking the streets as a free man on bail. Especially concerning as he obviously has some pent up issues and in no way poses a potential threat to the community, eh? Not a CE determined NatSec offence, luckily.
Perhaps the up-skirting victim was suspected of a being in a conspiracy to collude with a foreign power to assault him with her breast with seditious intent.
You can’t be too careful when national security is a stake!
Officer Ko pleaded guilty and is now in custody at the Siu Lam looney farm. While awaiting his sentence he will undergo psychiatric evaluation.
Ex-prosecutor loses court challenge over sacking for emails flouting neutrality
https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3358878/ex-prosecutor-loses-judicial-challenge-against-sacking-emails-flouting-neutrality?share=k%2FDIoCu5CGTipTjEV8Zdr5DHaKbn2W9sd4diUfnA2t1%2FZ7R86jEKZn4PdRaFc4vQaS61cvAHIZ7%2FkPoUox5jiGkv4a5Lx27FJ%2FVINzP0qTNgjgD%2Bm%2BMfhx5b%2Fdzlg5fXUCofA553OCwH590jlqWeFQ%3D%3D&utm_campaign=social_share
This guy got fired from the civil service and lost a 26 year pension entitlement because he accused the police of lacking integrity for arresting the pan-democrats over holding a primary and inviting his colleagues to the last June 4th vigil.
While it probably wasn’t the best thought out move to send out a mass email to all justice department recipients, does that deserve a total loss of pension? British born Justice Russell Coleman seems to think so as he sided with the government.
You still won’t get to hear NSL cases Justice Coleman though I believe there are some foreign judges that have this privilege.
While awaiting his sentence he will undergo psychiatric evaluation.
Which will, no doubt, exonerate him and put the blame firmly on foreign interference, soft power whatever, and all the other OK excuses.
This item from 2019 came up in my FB “Memories” this morning. A relic of a time when university students and faculty had freedom of speech. The person who sent the message is living in exile.
A message from my department at Hong Kong Baptist University 香港浸會大學 to our students. This represents ALL OF US at the Department of English (HKBU English: Agora). I hope MANY of our students see the email/message, and know: WE CARE.
▂▂▂▂▂▂
[From the Department of English, HKBU]
Dear ENG/ED students,
On behalf of our Department colleagues, Ruth Hung and I wanted to write to ask you, first, to read the Faculty’s letter below carefully and to take a good inventory of its resources. If you need to, please do make that call, or send that text, much as these good people who are our Faculty colleagues would have you do.
Then, and just for another brief moment, we wanted to ask you to lift your gazes to us, and to permit us to address you from our hearts.
We, your teachers, write to say that we are here together with you, right now, within these very same walls. We will remain with you, *whatever* values you hold to be true, whichever controversies others attribute to you, however your energies ebb or flow as the result of such and such external and internal forces buffeting you from all sides.
These are challenging times for Hong Kong. We attempt, and often fail, to describe these days: the struggle to make our daily bread, to strive and succeed, to fail without undue disappointment, to protect our city and our families. To protect our sense of self-worth. Under the weight of so much pressure and expectation, language can fail us. We might feel therefore misunderstood, then unloved, then tired, or simply get a headache.
Remember, though, within these walls are a community—survivors of circumstance, yes, as all communities always are. We write, therefore, to ask you to recall the goodness and peace in your lives. Remember that rest, good food, and care for the self—accompanied perhaps by a good book, a wandering thought, or a walk—are also effective means of appreciating the Hong Kong we love. With rest, we may more effectively persist beneath today’s strong blasts, and so become sculpted by life’s adverse weather. None is exempt from life’s hard wisdom. We are all made more beautiful through the mere fact of an uncommon survival.
Beyond survival, there is happiness and joy both within and beyond politics. Did you know that often, when we, your teachers, forget, you rise up and remind us of a moment’s calm? Our service to you continues to make our own lives and work meaningful, buoyant, and responsive. Without your persistence, we have no job to do; without you, our work is meaningless. For all of the bustle and tumult of these times, we remember you in specific (and perhaps more peaceful) situations of learning: a spark, a flash of recognition, of laughter, of solace, of consolation.
We remember all of them. All of you.
Each and every one of you has contributed to making this community of ours a unique and most valuable source of strength, stamina, and hope. We, your teachers, share your conviction in the foundations of humanity. Come what may, we shall get through a patch of tough weather together. If necessary, reach out and give us your hand. Let us remind you, to our utter delight, of all the myriad ways you mattered (and continue to matter) as our students.
On behalf of all colleagues in the HKBU English Department,
Stuart Christie and Ruth Hung
———-
Letter from the Faculty of Arts Regarding Students’ Well-being and Safety
Dear Students,
This message is prompted by the recent suicide of Ms Lo at the Education University of Hong Kong. Her death is heartbreaking and very much on our minds. This is a very difficult time for Hong Kong and we wish to state, explicitly and emphatically, that we, your teachers, are there for you, regardless of your position on the protests, should you feel a need to talk about the psychological impact of recent events in Hong Kong.
For the moment, if you wish to speak to a professor from the Arts Faculty, you can reach Prof Lian-Hee Wee [and] Dr William Ng. [Information not included here for privacy reasons.]
If you contact Prof Wee or Dr Ng, please remember to identify yourself as one of our students.
If you prefer, you may also contact your mentor, your professor/tutor, or your head of programme/department. We have written to all colleagues in the Arts Faculty and to all Heads of Department, for the purposes of identifying further contact persons. We will be writing to you again as soon as we have collected the names of colleagues who are happy to provide support.
Please remember that there are trained professionals who can offer assistance. Here is a list of organizations that are able to offer support:
▖ HKBU Counselling and Development Centre: 34117435 cdc@hkbu.edu.hk
▖The Samaritan Befrienders Hong Kong 香港撒瑪利亞防止自殺會熱線:23892222
▖Mental Health First Aid 醫院管理局精神健康專線:24667350
▖TWGHs CEASE Crisis Centre 東華三院芷若園熱線‥18281
▖The Samaritans 撒瑪利亞會熱線‥28960000
▖Social Welfare Department 社會福利署熱線‥23432255
▖Suicide Prevention Services 生命熱線:23820000
▖Jockey Club Online Y outh Emotional Support Open Up 24hour counselling 賽馬會青少年情緒健康網上支援平台-「Open 噏」24 小時網上輔導:91012012(SMS)
▖Hok Yau Club 學友社學生熱線:25033399
▖Richmond Fellowship of Hong Kong 利民會《即時通》:35122626
Yours sincerely,
Mette Hjort, Dean of Arts &
Lian-Hee Wee, Acting Dean of Arts
Of course the repulsive task of constantly spying on fellow citizens and looking for evidence to support charges to put them away could place a strain on a man with with some ethics. No doubt some officers were assigned to posiitons through circumstance rather than choice and any attempt to exit would place them on the suspect list.
@Mary Melville
Those who chose to remain or join must bear the consequences.
Mark
Do not forget Russell Coleman was convicted of an offence when a junior barrister. Plus allegedly gave a false/incompetete name.
Still managed to become an SC and then his current position.
@MM
Boo-fucking-hoo.
Ko is nothing but complicit in the police state. I hope it tears him apart.