Politics

Should the government ease the application for the industrial buildings owners to change land usage? by Paulus Choy Ken Wong Cheuk-kei, a boxing coach who set up his gym in an industrial building in Kwun Tong last year, was carrying two bags filled with boxing gloves and gear during the day of the interview. He had just vacated his boxing gym after government officials deemed his place accident-prone, and told him to clear out.   He, along with many other tenants, is affected by the recent government checks on industrial buildings in Hong Kong. Recent fires that occurred in Ngau Tau Kok and Sham Shui Po, sparked public outcries to beef up control over these buildings. Ngau Tau Kok fire in particular started due to an accident in a mini-storage room, and claimed the lives of two firemen. The secretary for development, Paul Chan Mo-po, said the checks are targeted at industrial units which attract people to gather at the building, and other premises that store dangerous goods.Tenants found to be in breach of the lease during the check would be evicted. The Land Department has announced that tenants found to have violated usage of the space, with risk of causing accidents, would have to move out by the 29th of August. Landlords would be granted 14 days to see the tenants move out, or else the government may repossess the property. Since the decline of the industrial sectors in 1990s, industrial areas have been an ideal place for non-industrial businesses to operate, as they are not expensive and are quite spacious, even though the land usage of many of the industrial buildings has not been successfully converted. Mr X, who refused to reveal his name, is facing the same challenge as Wong did, as he is renting an apartment …

MTR South Island Line may cause more inconvenience than benefit to the community by Tiffany Lui The Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTR) has recently announced that due to the construction work in Admiralty station, the South Island Line (East) may launch at early 2017. The South Island Line (East) will connect the Southern District, including Ocean Park, Wong Chuk Hang, Lei Tung and South Horizons, to the existing Admiralty station. The Southern District has been suffering from serious traffic congestion for decades since most of the vehicles rely on the Aberdeen Tunnel to get to the heart of Hong Kong Island. The Transport Department has put forward a proposal to establish several new bus and minibus routes to improve traffic congestion in the Southern district, after consultation and looking at the data from the bus and minibus companies. Several new routes will be established - for example, minibus 51B that links Tin Wan Estate with the future Wong Chuk Hang MTR station - but other routes will be rerouted or cancelled, like Citybus 71 and 75, which serves Central and Wong Chuk Hang. Some commuters are skeptical about the ability of the new MTR line in resolving traffic problems. They believe that the plan will bring more inconvenience to the Southern District. Nine community interest groups - including Western District Transport, SH Concern Group and Imaging Wong Chuk Hang - have set up a Concern Alliance to call for actions to bring residents' voices to the Transport Department and the Southern District Council. "I think the Transport Department has underestimated the number of people who travel in and out of the district everyday during peak hours," Clive Law Siu-yin, a member of the South Island Line Concern Alliance, said. According to the MTR website, there will be a total of …

  by Crystal Tai & Celia Lai Ever since pro-democracy protesters retreated from the streets after the Umbrella Movement, education has become a political battleground as government interferes with academic freedom, say students at Hong Kong University. Fifteen students formed a class boycott committee on 18 January after Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's controversial appointment of pro-Beijing official Arthur Li Kwok-cheung as chairman of the university's council. His appointment came right after the university council's rejection to nominate liberal law scholar Johannes Chan Man-mun as the pro-vice chancellor, which sparked a weeklong class boycott in January. Professor Benson Wong Wai-kwok at Baptist University says that class boycott has become a common way for students to impose pressure on the authority. "Students leave the classroom to show the willingness, determination and commitment to challenge the government," he said. Class boycotts can be traced back to 2012, when tens of thousands protested against plans to introduce Beijing-centric national education in schools. Although students were not completely satisfied with the temporary withdrawal of the proposal, the move was regarded as a concession made by the government. In 2014, young activists called students to join boycott campaign in their fight for genuine universal suffrage and resignation of pro-Beijing leader Leung Chun-ying. Li Chung Chak, secretariat of Scholarism told TYR that the series of class boycotts culminated in the 79-day Umbrella Movement. "The call for class boycott successfully aroused social awareness and it made local headlines. It was a milestone for the active youth participation in the Occupy Movement," Mr. Li said. More than a year after the Occupy protests, Beijing has not given any concessions to accommodate the voice of students. Tensions escalated after Mr. Li was appointed to preside the university council, stirring fears about eroding academic freedom. "We want to show students' strong …