Who is Benny Tai? Some say sacked University of Hong Kong academic is a separatist, others hail him as fighter for greater democracy
- Since co-founding 2014 Occupy movement, legal scholar has been no stranger to controversy in city’s increasingly polarised political landscape
- He has vowed to continue his advocacy and teachings despite being removed from his associate professor post
Is Benny Tai a deeply religious and committed campaigner for greater democracy or an anti-government separatist who has misled young minds as a legal academic at the University of Hong Kong?
Allies said Tai, a Christian, had always been an optimistic person, touting how he raised proposals for activism often deemed impossible, but that somehow always came through in the end, even going beyond expectations.
Tai was born in Hong Kong in 1964 and graduated from Diocesan Boys’ School in 1981. He graduated from the HKU law school in 1987. Tai started teaching at its law faculty from 1990 and was associate dean between 2000 and 2008.
During his university days, Tai was a student representative on the now-defunct Basic Law Consultative Committee, a role that had probably shaped his political path.
I used to be just a university academic living in my comfort zone
“I was Martin’s assistant and his fight for democracy impressed me,” Tai said in an interview in 2014, referring to the Democrats’ founding chairman and opposition heavyweight Martin Lee Chu-ming.
Tai was perhaps best remembered for his role in the “Occupy Central with Love and Peace” civil disobedience movement, which he co-founded with fellow moderate pan-democrats Chan Kin-man, a Chinese University sociology professor, and Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, a Baptist minister.
