My Take | Bad behaviour deserves to be punished
Civic Passion lawmaker and hothead Cheng Chung-tai has lost his job as a lecturer at Polytechnic University, and his departure can’t come too soon
We hacks are not seen as paragons of virtue, even by ourselves. But with the four newsrooms I have worked for, each one had a contract clause that said any behaviour that reflected badly on the company and its reputation was a dismissible offence.
I don’t know whether Civic Passion lawmaker Cheng Chung-tai had a similar contract clause with Polytechnic University, where he has been a social science lecturer. In any case, scholars who educate our youth are reasonably held to a higher standard of public behaviour, especially if you also happen to be a legislator.
In September, Cheng was found guilty of desecrating the national and Hong Kong flags in the Legislative Council chamber and fined HK$5,000. This was the primary factor that the university considered in deciding not to renew his teaching contract when it ends this June. But it hints that other incidents involving Cheng may have been considered as well.
Cheng said the decision was “absurd” and an example of the mainlandisation of local universities. Really? In October 2016, he was captured on television overturning the small flags put in front of the desks of pro-government lawmakers in the Legislative Council.
Watch: Cheng Chung-tai turns national flag upside down