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Some 800 Chinese University alumni have signed a petition to oppose a Legislative Council bill to downsize the university council since Saturday, saying there should be a public hearing where alumni and students can express their views.
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The petition, launched by three current CUHK council members, Kelvin Yeung Yu-ming, Enders Lam Wai-hung and Heung Shu-fai, appealed for a "win-win proposal for the CUHK council revamp," which recommended that the council seats for legislators and the alumni body should be both reduced from 3 to 2.
The current amendment bill - proposed by legislator Tommy Cheung Yu-yan of the Liberal Party, Bill Tang Ka-piu of the Federation of Trade Unions and Edward Lau Kwok-fan of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment Progress of Hong Kong, who are also existing council members - suggested that the council's numbers be cut from 54 to 33, with alumni seats being reduced from 3 to 1, while Legco reps would remain at 3.
The co-signing process began on Saturday, following the closed-door first meeting of a Legco bill committee on The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Amendment) Bill 2023 on Friday, as the committee's chairwoman Priscilla Leung Mei-fun refused the public hearing request by Yeung, the leader of the university's statutory alumni body. She said that an "open discussions could turn into personal attacks."
Lam said he felt encouraged by the number of people who have co-signed the petition.
He also denounced the Bills Committee for the closed-door meeting, saying: "Personal attacks will never appear if the hearing is held publicly and fairly."
The petition received support from many renowned CUHK alumni, including current CUHK vice-president Eric Ng Shu-pui, current Lingnan University president Leonard Cheng Kwok-hon and the director of the Hong Kong Palace Museum Louis Ng Chi-wa.
Also signing the petition was former CUHK vice-president Henry Wong Nai-ching, who said: "Many alumni and staff have expressed discontent over lawmakers' intervention on CUHK's internal affairs, holding a view that the council revamp should be led by the university itself.
"CUHK is not against the reform and proposed a revamp plan in 2016. It was Legco's problem that the bill was not passed."
Leung Wing-mo, the former assistant director of the Hong Kong Observatory, who also signed the petition, said that he stood for the petition because Legco did not consult the council for the reform, "which disrespected the opinions from the university's officers and alumni."
