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Philip Yeung
Philip Yeung is a former speech-writer to the president of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and currently a freelance speech-writer and ghostwriter to local civic and government leaders. He is a guest lecturer at various tertiary institutions in Hong Kong and mainland China on public speaking and academic writing. He was educated at the University of Toronto.
If officials think that with a HK$10,000 cash handout, they have done their duty, they are sadly mistaken. When bad times hit, the poor are hit the hardest, and many are now in dire straits, with no social safety net to keep them afloat.
The body has never faced public scrutiny, but its silence on recent fraud scams involving gold raise questions about its purpose
It is cruel to target one of the most vulnerable groups in society to make a point about the need to prepare for an ageing population. Instead, the government should work harder at ensuring more elderly people find work.
Hong Kong’s ailing school system, as evidenced by survey findings of unhappy teachers and students, must be fixed. In its role as a trainer of teachers, the Education University must steer teachers to stop teaching to the test.
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As the market for English assessments, such as IELTS, grows in China, test designers should ensure that exam questions encourage true language learning.
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club provoked Hong Kong and China when it gave a separatist a public platform. In testing the limits of freedom of speech, the FCC has contributed to its curtailment, but now is the time for quiet diplomacy to prevail.
The Hong Kong government take more than it gives, as it sits on massive surpluses and fails to deliver policies, on everything from education to the elderly, that actually help those in need.
Free speech in Hong Kong universities must have limits, if the city is to maintain the delicate balance of ‘one country, two systems’. It is one thing to have students fighting for universal suffrage, and another to have them advocating separation.
The chief executive snapping at a reporter after an English-language question was more than a faux pas: it shows that the prioritisation of English in this bilingual city has been steadily diminishing.
Given Hong Kong’s massive surplus and its problem with poverty – and suicide – among the elderly, it should loosen its requirements for supporting their living arrangements.
Illegal structures in Hong Kong are common given the high cost of land. It’s time to review the regulations on home improvement.
The rowdy student protest at Baptist University shows secondary schools have failed to cultivate a moral compass in young people. A rich reading programme for both teachers and students would remedy this.
