Arthur Li appointed as HKU Council Chairman; CY Leung’s FB page ‘hacked’; Funding for HZMB to jump the queue.
Photo: Chris Lusher
Government & LegCo
Brace yourself: Arthur Li appointed as HKU Council Chairman
– Government finally announced – at midnight – the appointment of Arthur Li as Chairman of the University of Hong Kong Council for a term of three years with effect from Jan 1, 2016
– The HKU Alumni Concern Group, the Academic Staff Association of The University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union all released statements condemning the appointment
– HKUSU president Billy Fung, as a Council member himself, vowed to be uncooperative with the governing body but stressed there would be no plan to organise class boycott at the moment
– Prior to the announcement, more recordings of the closed-door HKU Council meetings were leaked, which heard Arthur Li saying he had “nothing to hide”
CE Office reports to police after ‘hacker’ helps CY Leung befriend models and Japanese porn star
– CY Leung’s facebook page was believed to be hacked as some new “friends”,including a Japanese porn star, were added alongside some other modifications
– “The Chief Executive’s Facebook page was suspected to be hacked in the afternoon on December 24 – some information and settings have been modified, some posts have been deleted, some “new friends” have been added, and the profile picture of the Chief Executive’s Facebook page has been changed,” the CE’s Office stated
– The Office also sought police assistance in handling the case
77.75% of government’s disaster relief funds go to the mainland
– The government released a total of HKD1.75bn from the Disaster Relief Fundsince its establishment in 1994, of which HKD1.36bn (77.75%) went to mainland authorities as of March 31
– HKD23.07m were granted to Yunnan Province for earthquake relief and HKD10.66m to flood victims in Hunan Province, Guizhou Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in 2014-2015
– Other recipients included India, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Serbia and Malawi
Funding for cross-border bridge to jump the Finance Committee agenda queue
– Finance Committee chairman Chan Kin-por, upon request from the government, moved the item of a HKD5.5bn extra funding for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge to the top of the agenda
– The decision placed the item ahead of 18 others which would originally have to be dealt with first, including a HKD380m funding for the elderly healthcare voucher scheme and a HKD10bn injection to the Hospital Authority
– People Power’s Raymond Chan already said he would vowed to filibuster “at all costs”
General Politics
Third Side to join February’s LegCo by-election race
– The moderate pro-democracy Third Side, formed by ex-democrats Nelson Wong and Tik Chi-yuen, hinted they would take part in the New Territories East by-election next February but had yet to decide who will run for the post
– Tik said it would be an “insult” if people said his party is splitting votes within the pan-dem camp
– Civic Party’s Alvin Yeung earlier confirmed his participation in the race to fill up his mentor Ronny Tong’s vacant seat
