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In response to the recent remarks by Professor Bernard Luk, Vice President of the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd), which led to the false allegation that the Secretary for Education and Manpower (SEM), Professor Arthur K C Li, had interfered with academic freedom and personnel matters of HKIEd, the Education and Manpower Bureau (EMB) issued the following statement today (February 7):
Professor Bernard Luk made a public remark on Monday (February 5) that an EMB official had telephoned the President of HKIEd asking the Institute to sack four teachers, without disclosing the full details. Even when SEM was named in the relevant media reports, he chose not to make clarifications in the first instance. Meanwhile, the public continued to be misled, causing serious damage to SEM's reputation. An EMB spokesman regarded Professor Luk's deeds as being unacceptable.
The spokesman said, "Professor Luk held his clarification until this midday (February 7) when at last he admitted that his allegation was not leveled at SEM, but he still refused to disclose the whole truth. He went on attributing the responsibility to 'speculative media reports'. We find this deeply regrettable."
"If Professor Luk was really prepared to unveil the truth, he should have disclosed the full details. He has every responsibility to provide concrete evidence. Professor Luk has made serious accusations in the absence of revelation of all information. We think this was totally unfair to EMB officials. Indeed, other allegations against SEM are also untrue."
The spokesman stressed that EMB had never interfered with academic freedom. He said, "We respect the right of individuals, including academics, to express their opinions, as this can facilitate our communication with them in the implementation of policies. When there are misconceptions in articles written by academics and published in the newspapers, we will respond through ordinary channels such as the bureau's homepage and the press. The allegation of 'exerting pressure on academics' is totally groundless."
"We note that some members of the teaching staff at HKIEd have recently claimed that their failure in bidding for EMB's projects was the evidence of this sort of 'pressure'. This claim is also untrue."
The EMB spokesman reiterated that the Bureau strictly followed the Government's established procedures in conducting tendering exercises. Tender evaluation criteria, which are fair, open and transparent, have been clearly stated in the tender notices. Evaluation is never subject to other factors. The tenderers are also free to choose their own service providers.
Moreover, according to EMB's service agreements with the successful bidders, information gathered in the course of their providing the service belongs to the bureau. This is a normal practice. Nonetheless, EMB is willing to offer assistance to any academics who wish to use the deliverables for further development and publication.
Ends/Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Issued at HKT 22:06
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