Arthur Li

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Prof. Arthur Kwok Cheung Li GBS JP (Traditional Chinese: 李國章; born 1945 in Hong Kong with family roots in Heshan, Guangdong) is a member of the Executive Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Secretary for Education and Manpower since August 2002. Before his appointment, Li was the Vice-Chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, as well as:

• Professor of Surgery and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, CUHK
• Member of the Education Commission and Member of the Committee on Science and Technology
• Member of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority
• Member of the Hong Kong Medical Council
• Member of the University Grants Committee
• Member of the College of Surgeons of Hong Kong
• Member of the Hospital Governing Committee of United Christian Hospital, Kwun Tong, Hong Kong
• Member of the Board of Directors of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation
• Member of the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute
• Vice-President of the Association of University Presidents of China

An alumnus of St. Paul's Co-educational College and a classmate of Professor Lawrence J. Lau, Li received his medical training at the University of Cambridge. He was subsequently trained and taught at Middlesex Hospital Medical School and Harvard Medical School, before returning to Hong Kong to become the founding head of Department of Surgery and Dean of Medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

His elder brother, David Li Kwok-po, is a non-official member of the Executive Council, member of the Legislative Council and chairman and CEO of the Bank of East Asia. He has two sons, Alexander Li Man-Ying born in 1975 and Peter Li Man-Chun born in 1979. Both graduated with first class honours from Cambridge University in Medical Sciences.

Contents 1 Controversy 1.1 Bombshell 1.2 Serious allegation 2 See also 3 References 4 External link

[edit] Controversy

• On 25 January 2007, the governing council of the institute decided in a vote of 10 to 3 with 3 abstentions, not to renew Morris' Vice Chancellor contract . Morris maintained he had been told by the chairman of the council, as far back as June 2006, that his tenure would end unless he agreed to the amalgamation of the institute and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The chairman, Dr Thomas Leung Kwok-fai, denied Morris' assertion, stressing Morris had misinterpreted him and that there was no connection between the two. ^[1][2] This has given rise to the speculation that the Secretary for Education and Manpower Prof Arthur Li is trying to force an almalgamtion of the institute with CUHK. ^[3] Morris has been campaigning to establish the institute as a university of its own.^[4]
  

• It has been alleged by the deputy Vice Chancellor, Professor Bernard Luk Hung-kay (陸鴻基教授) on RTHK Radio 1's Openline Openview phone-in programme on 26 January 2007, that during the summer of 2003, after results of the Language Proficiency Assessment for Teachers were released, news went out from unidentified source(s) that a great number of the participants who had failed in the test were from the Hong Kong Institute of Education, when in fact all those who had majored in English had passed and only those who were not, failed. The consequences of which, Professor Luk alleged, resulted in a sharp fall in the number of applicants the next year. He maintained though that the numbers has since recovered through hard work of the staff.
  Prof Luk also corroborated Vice Chancellor Morris' version of events by revealing a secret breakfast meeting that took place between Dr Leung and the Vice Chancellor in June 2006.^[5]

[edit] Bombshell

• On 5 February 2007, Professor Bernard Luk alleged both in his open letter ^[6] and on RTHK Radio 1's Openline Openview programme that Secretary for Education and Manpower Prof Arthur Li has made veiled threats both against him and Professor Morris in the past. For the personal threat made against him on 26/27 June 2004, Arthur Li was quoted by Luk to have said, "I'll remember this. You will pay!", for refusing to make a news release denouncing those teachers who have exceeded the placement quota for their profession and were about to lose their current jobs. Luk suggests in his letter that the time is up for his pound of flesh.
  Luk also alleged that during January 2004, Li had phoned Morris in an effort to influence the latter in taking the lead in amalgamating with CUHK. Failing to do so, Li was quoted to have said to Morris, "I'll give Fanny Law the green-light in reducing future student intake quotas of IEd."^[7]
  Prof. Luk further alleged that there had been numerous newspaper articles written by a number of IEd staff in the past few years criticising EMBs education reform and policies. This, Luk continued, resulted in a number of phone calls from a certain high-ranking official in the Education Department of the EMB, demanding Luk and Morris carry out immediate sackings of those 4 staff, which they refused outright.^[8][9]

[edit] Serious allegation

• On 6 February 2007,one of those 4 staff namely, Leung Yan-wing(梁恩榮) and Yip Kin-yuen(葉建源) expressed their wish for Legco to investigate further or set up an open hearing into the allegations. Legco member Cheung Man Kwong told RTHK Radio 1's Openline Openview phone-in programme that he along with 8 other Democratic camp members have already written to Legco's Education Committee chairman Tsang Yok-sing, urging him to convene an emergency meeting to discuss whether Arthur Li has interfered in academic freedom and independence of IEd. ^[10]
• On 7 February 2007, Legco's Education Committee announced it would convene a meeting on 12 February 2007 and discuss what to do next. "If necessary, the committee will invite both IEd representatives and Arthur Li", Tsang Yok-sing said.^[11]

[edit] See also

• Politics of Hong Kong
• Executive Council of Hong Kong

[edit] References

1. ^ RTHK news article in Chinese
2. ^ RTHK audio news summary
3. ^ Mingpao article in Chinese,
4. ^ Hong Kong Standard news article
5. ^ Radio 1's Openline Openview phone-in audio
6. ^ Bernard Luk's article in Chinese on MingPao
7. ^ RTHK Radio 1's Openline Openview phone-in audio
8. ^ RTHK Radio 1's HK2000 morning phone-in audio
9. ^ Prof. Luk's open letter
10. ^ RTHK Radio 1's Openline Openview phone-in audio
11. ^ RTHK news article in Chinese

[edit] External link

• Biography of Arthur Li on the Government website

Preceded by: Charles K. Kao	Vice Chancellor of The Chinese University of Hong Kong 1996—2002	Succeeded by: Ambrose King
Preceded by: Fanny Law	Secretary for Education and Manpower 2002—present	Succeeded by: Incumbent
Preceded by: Michael Suen	Hong Kong order of precedence	Succeeded by: Tsang Yok-sing