The Student Union president of Hong Kong’s Lingnan University has stood defiant against critics of a song played at a campus concert that included insults against the police their families.
The debate topic of RTHK’s televised City Forum on Sunday was on the so-called “Concert of Resistance in the Dark Times”, organised by the student body last month.
At the show, four-man band played a rap song that included obscene lyrics about Hong Kong police. The band members were not students but were invited by the Student Union to perform.
Lau Chun-lam, president of the SU, said in Sunday’s open-air forum that Hongkongers had to make use of many forms of action to protest against the unjust government, SCMP reports.
The concert was organised in response to the government’s unwillingness to listen to the public’s view, he added
“It’s like when we punch back just one time after the government hit us with a stick 10 times, you continue to focus on that one punch we throw. Is that just and fair?” Lau asked.
Former Law Society chairman Junius Ho Kwan-yiu, a pro-establishment forum speaker, claims playing the song in public could constitute a violation of Section 17B of the Public Ordinance, where offenders face fines of up to HKD5,000 and 12 months imprisonment for using abusive and threatening language.
The lawyer also criticised Lau for “living too comfortably” and urged him to “look at the Middle East and Africa”.
In the midst of the debate, Ho threw a printout of the lyrics at Lau, and challenged the SU president to read them out on air, which the host disallowed in respect to the Broadcast Ordinance, EJ Insight reports.
A female forum speaker, cultural commentator Tang Siu-wa, also disagreed with the lawyer, saying she believes the performance was an exercise in freedom of speech.
Ho countered by suggesting she strip on stage if she believes performance art would provide her with an excuse.
Excellent logic there. That’s exactly the same thing.
Photo: Coconuts Media
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