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Letters

The Occupy Central movement has attracted thousands of participants from a broad diversity of backgrounds, life experiences and political philosophies.
Many of the participants are students who share the same mentality.
Amongst Chinese students lies the erroneous but deeply ingrained belief that one must work hard and attend the top university to become successful in life.
I have witnessed the chaos at an Occupy protest area. A middle-aged anti-Occupy activist was annoyed by the inconvenience.
He was shouting at students and protesters for making his business suffer.
A student went up to the man and disparaged his background, asking if he only obtained education up to primary level and if he even knew English.
A well-educated student should be sensitive and realise that it is hard to make a living in Hong Kong even if you are educated and that you should know not to lose respect for your elders at all times.
A harmful consequence of Occupy Central is clearly that it has indeed created a general divide between the opinions of the old and the young.
One of Occupy Central's founders, Benny Tai Yiu-ting, has repeatedly claimed that persistence will lead to a change in the city's political system and bring about a "new" Hong Kong, an idea I find quite threatening.
The vision he has described is what students hope to achieve, but it is impossible.
He is encouraging the naive youth to break the law in order to achieve unrealistic political objectives.
He is an associate professor and as such he should know when he is stepping outside of his responsibilities and should stop.
A professor belongs in the library and the lecture theatre. His responsibility is to nurture talent, not to take it on to the streets in defiance of the law at the risk of ruining the future prospects of students. They are not being paid by taxpayers to lobby in the streets, which is the role of politicians. Any activism in politics by a professor is therefore unacceptable.
Although I was very disobedient when young, I was not manipulated by anyone and gradually worked my way towards becoming a lawyer.
Life is unpredictable and students should accept the reality that Hong Kong can never be perfect.
Barry Chin, Central


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Occupy Central

Naive students are pursuing unrealistic political objectives

Benny Tai is encouraging the naive youth to break the law in order to achieve unrealistic political objectives.

Opinion