Interview: Unrest damages professional ethics in Hong Kong, says educator

Source: Xinhua| 2019-08-24 01:01:02|Editor: huaxia
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Tang Fei, principal of Hong Kong's Heung To Secondary School (Tseung Kwan O), speaks to Xinhua, Aug. 23, 2019 (Xinhua/Lu Hanxin)

"It is dangerous that the split between people of different stances can seriously damage professional ethics and interfere with professional operations," says Tang Fei, principal of Hong Kong's Heung To Secondary School (Tseung Kwan O).

HONG KONG, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- The ordinance amendment issues and the ensuing violence have undermined the professional ethics of the Hong Kong society and created hatred in the community, a Hong Kong educator said on Friday.

Though the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government have said, on many occasions, that it has completely halted the amendments of two ordinances concerning the transfer of fugitive offenders, protesters continued to cause mayhem in Hong Kong.

In an interview with Xinhua, Tang Fei, principal of Hong Kong's Heung To Secondary School (Tseung Kwan O), said that apart from the disturbance to the rule of law and social order in Hong Kong, the severe damage caused by the unrest to the professional ethics in Hong Kong is also alarming.

"Every industry stipulates certain professional ethics which must be followed. However, we have heard words and seen actions recently in Hong Kong which have violated the professional ethics," said Tang.

While Hong Kong is renowned as being a highly professional society with highly skilled professionals who have adhered to professional ethics, Tang said that the ordinance amendment issues have brought about many incidents where professional ethics was violated.

According to Tang, some educators have openly made inappropriate remarks and cursed the police and their children. In other cases, some airline staff even leaked information to radical protesters in disregard of aviation safety.

"It is dangerous that the split between people of different stances can seriously damage professional ethics and interfere with professional operations," said Tang.

The ordinance amendment issues have also created hatred in the Hong Kong society, he said.

"If this irrational and paranoid hatred continues to spread, Hong Kong will slip into the abyss," Tang warned.

In his opinion, in the Internet Age, traditional education has failed to catch up with the influence of the Internet and media on the young generation.

In Hong Kong, negative reports often dominate the Internet and media, said Tang, adding that there is lack of positive guidance of national education in Hong Kong.

The opposition's advocacy of so-called "achieving justice by violating the law" has poisoned many young people's minds, said Tang.

"Those young people are now incited to disobey not only in schools and families but also on streets," said Tang.

"This is both a sociopolitical problem and a crisis for adolescent development," he added.

If the weeks-long unrest drags on, "there will be a big question mark over Hong Kong's future," said Tang.

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