Hong Kong media: Opening and closing the door, the anti-China and Hong Kong organization "Education Association" is expected to be disbanded in September. How to deal with the huge assets of 148 million attracts attention
[Global Times Special Correspondent in Hong Kong, Ye Lan] The dissolution of the Hong Kong "Education Professionals Association" ("Education Association"), a "troubled Hong Kong" group, has entered the final stage. The dissolution process is expected to be completed in September.
According to a report by Hong Kong’s “Sing Tao Daily” on the 29th, the “Education Association” held a closed-door special membership representative meeting on the 28th. The original stipulation that “dissolution must be approved by 2/3 or more of all members” was changed to “attendance”. 2/3 or more member representatives agree".
After about an hour of meeting, the motion was approved by a majority of the member representatives present, with only a dozen votes against or abstention.
According to the report, there are 3,000 representatives of all members of the "Education Association", but only about 140 people attended the meeting. However, according to the charter, as long as the number of participants reaches 80, the resolution can be passed with the approval of half of the people at the time of voting to amend the constitution.
Feng Weihua, the president of the "Education Association", said that with the amendment of the new articles of association, the Hong Kong Trade Union Registration Bureau will be notified later, and after the government approves the amendment, another special membership meeting is expected to be held in September to pass the dissolution procedure.
The Trade Union Registration Bureau replied that it does not comment on individual cases, but if the organization's trade union wants to change, amend, add to or delete its constitution, it must be approved by members with voting rights in accordance with the constitution.
According to the "Trade Unions Ordinance", a trade union must apply to the Registration Bureau for registration within 30 days after passing the amendment of its constitution; all revised constitutions must be registered with the Registration Bureau before they can take effect and be implemented.
Hong Kong's "Oriental Daily" mentioned on the 29th that the "Education Association" owns a number of self-owned properties, including the headquarters of the Middle Bridge Building in Mong Kok and the supermarket in the Good Hope Building in Mong Kok, with an estimated current value of about 400 million Hong Kong dollars.
Its financial report last year showed that the "Education Association" had net assets of HK$148 million, including working capital of HK$125 million, non-current assets of HK$81 million, and current liabilities of only HK$58.08 million.
How to deal with huge assets after the announcement of dissolution has aroused the attention of the outside world.
A member representative in attendance quoted Feng Weihua as saying that after the property will be sold in accordance with the constitution, debts will be paid off, and staff salaries will be settled, the remaining funds will be evenly distributed to eligible members and hope to complete it within this year.
The report said.
When the "Education Association" announced its dissolution a few days ago, many groups immediately believed that it was suspected of violating the Hong Kong National Security Law, suspected of having behind-the-scenes funds, or attempting to transfer assets in the name of dissolution.
Public opinion suggests that the National Security Department of the police should immediately freeze all assets under the name of the "Education Association" to prevent someone from borrowing their corpses to resurrect their lives and start anew.
The Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Law Chi-Kwong, said that the number of newly registered trade unions increased from 13 to 495 in each of the past three years, and a total of 7 trade unions disbanded themselves during the same period.
He emphasized that if a trade union has committed activities in violation of its constitution or laws before its dissolution, the trade union registration bureau and law enforcement agencies will follow up.
The Secretary for Security Deng Ping-kiang recently published an article entitled "Law enforcement agencies will strictly enforce the law, and criminal responsibility shall not be wiped out by dissolution", stating that the "Education Association" and "FDC" both announced their dissolution under the background of the full implementation of the Hong Kong National Security Law. , "Illegal is illegal." Although the above-mentioned organizations have decided to dissolve, the crimes committed by any person or organization will not disappear because of their dissolution and resignation.
He promised that law enforcement agencies will continue to adopt an all-round crackdown strategy. Regardless of whether relevant organizations have ceased operations, they will be investigated for criminal responsibility in strict accordance with the National Security Law and other relevant laws to ensure that those who endanger national security receive due legal sanctions.
Tan Huizhu, deputy director of the Basic Law Committee, emphasized that professionals, whether they come from the education, accounting, or legal fields, should behave properly so that the profession has a positive function in society. Once a professional body becomes an agent of a political party or tends to engage in politics, it is very important. Unfortunately, it must be corrected.
After the "Education Association" announced its dissolution on the 11th of this month, the "Hong Kong Educational Peers Front" established in January last year was also announced on the 21st, and the dissolution was approved by a special meeting.
Some "speculators" took the opportunity to speculate, claiming that the rights and interests of teachers were not protected.
In fact, there are many genuine teachers and professional education organizations in Hong Kong that provide teachers with diversified services.
Yu Qihua, president of the Education Staff Federation, stated on the 29th that as long as it is at the professional level of education, for example, teachers are punished by the school, the union is willing to provide assistance, but if legal procedures are involved, it is not the union that can assist.
As for the role of the trade union after the "Education Association" announced its dissolution, Yu Qihua said that it is discussing with other educational organizations to organize more activities, including teacher training and competitions, such as lectures for teachers on the National Security Law.
The "Education Professional Alliance", composed of more than a dozen educational organizations, previously signed up for the 2021 Election Committee subsector election (education sector), and has all been approved by the Qualifications Council to become statutory candidates.
The alliance held a press conference on the 29th to issue recommendations to middle, primary, kindergarten and special schools.
The Alliance revealed that the election platform put forward a number of recommendations from a macro perspective in terms of "diversity", "professionals", "stability" and "development", including the suggestion that the SAR government should formulate policies and promote teacher professional development in response to the "sudden rise and fall" of the student population. , Assist academia to promote education on citizenship and the rule of law, etc.
In addition, the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers ("the Federation of Education") also announced two important directions for future education talent training: one is to strengthen patriotism education, so that students can correctly understand the country, and may go to the Greater Bay Area Development Institute in the future. The second is to respond to the policy of building Hong Kong into an international innovation and technology center, allowing Hong Kong to "play its strengths" and cultivate innovative and technological talents.