It is time for Hong Kong to say 'no' to mob rule and rebellious youth

Enough is enough! Those student hotheads at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) have so far been handled with kid gloves and the leniency of the authorities so often demonstrated over the recent months of never-ending trouble has merely served to encourage them to further excesses.

How much longer must we wait to see the worst of these misguided youths, female as well as male, hauled into court and charged with such offenses as inciting a mob of fellow students to near-violence, thereby creating a riotous assembly, invading meeting halls and disrupting high-level University Council meetings, entrapment of senior-most Council appointees on HKU premises, preventing their freedom of movement, and various other serious charges? It is high time the kid gloves came off and Hong Kong society condemned such unruly behavior.

HKU Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Mathieson has made clear his disgust over Tuesday night's outrageous near riot by offering to pass on to the police videos showing the worst misconduct of the young offenders. It is to be hoped this leads to the identification of some of them.

Meanwhile, a question cries out for an honest answer: What is it about these irresponsible youngsters that makes the authorities seem so unwilling to crack down on them? Do they believe that there will be a surge of support for them from the public if the ringleaders are arrested, dragged off in handcuffs and placed in custody to await trial? No! We will all be glad that at last the hands of the police have been freed to allow them to do their jobs and restore calm and order to our respected halls of learning.

But stop ... could it be perhaps that a few of the biggest hotheads among these unconscionable lawbreakers are the sons and daughters of some prominent politicos, and the parents would suffer a "black eye" if their offspring's identities emerged?

Let us pause here to think back over the past few months and recollect all the civil disorder some hot-tempered but misguided students inflicted on the community. We had to suffer the illegal "Occupy Central" demonstrations. Then, just as those problems were gradually fading away, HKU became the students' new "battleground" because those self-righteous youths were not happy about the council members who would be steering its administration and educational policies into the future.

Where did they get the idea that they had the knowledge, wisdom and background to order around faculty chiefs, and pick and choose what particular courses will be beneficial to their futures?

What makes the present situation even more intolerable is that some of these "student activists" are recipients of government-funded student loans, without which the doors of academia would have remained forever closed to them. Another point to ponder is that if some of these students are convicted and must serve jail sentences, they will carry the stigma of that conviction throughout their working lives. As a result they will be ineligible for jobs in the civil service - and will also be barred from working in universities or schools.

Also, if they applied in the future to migrate to other countries, they would be asked on the application form to disclose whether they had ever been imprisoned - and if they tried to lie about their conviction they would stumble when required to supply confirmation from the police that they did not have a criminal record.

Sadly, however, through their endless trouble-stirring these "student activists" make it very clear that they do not have any sense of remorse or shame over their errant behavior.

Now let us turn to the parents of these rebellious youth and ask whether they are aware of their children's antics and, more importantly, whether they condone such misconduct? What sort of future do they expect their children to have after an education scarred and pitted with political protests?

Suppose one ex-student leader was given an administrative position in a busy factory, container firm or shipping company. How long would it take for him to begin agitating for "industrial action" to tie up the business' production line?

If you were an employer, would you run such a risk by offering a job to such a candidate? Almost without exception we would firmly say "No!" If asked whether a crackdown on obstreperous students is overdue, most would certainly say "Yes!".

The author is a journalist and former civil servant.

(HK Edition 01/29/2016 page10)