One day before Hong Kong residents vote to elect a new legislature, the Chinese territory's leader backed down on a contested plan to promote patriotism in local schools, bowing to political pressure and hunger strikers.
At an evening news conference, Leung Chun-ying announced that the administration would allow schools to decide for themselves whether to implement so-called 'moral and national' education classes. Previously, the government had said that it would require schools to begin such curriculum by 2015. 'We're giving the authority to the schools,' Mr. Leung said.
Large-scale protests have rocked Hong Kong for months over the plan, which some locals say amounts to 'brainwashing.' On Friday night, up to 120,000 demonstrated outside government offices, where about a dozen hunger strikers and scores of teenagers have been camped for over a week.
Calling the plan 'not something of our making,' on Saturday night, Mr. Leung stressed that he had inherited plans for so-called 'moral and national' education from Donald Tsang, his predecessor, who introduced the initiative in 2010. 'As soon as the government and as soon as we realized that there are opposing and different views in the community, I myself and my team have very, very quickly dealt with the issue,' Mr. Leung said.
Protests such as Friday's, which saw tens of thousands of black-clad protesters participate, have placed the government in an awkward position and this week prompted Mr. Leung to cancel his first official overseas trip since his inauguration to attend to 'domestic issues.' Students have pitched at least 50 tents outside government offices, while their many supporters have been bringing them daily offerings of snacks, fruit and water. Despite Mr. Leung's announcement, as of 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, there were still 27,500 protesters assembled outside government offices, according to police.
While the government had long maintained that schools would be free to design their own curriculum, local residents feared the plan would try to inculcate love of China's Communist Party among Hong Kong's schoolchildren. The fact that the government was found in July to have subsidized the publication of an educational pamphlet that offered fulsome praise of China's one-party state, titled 'The China Model,' helped fan such fears.
In his remarks, Mr. Leung appealed to hunger strikers─some who have fasted for up to 120 hours this week─to give up their campaign. As of 11 p.m. on Saturday night, organizers said there were about 15 hunger strikers still refusing food, though discussions were under way over whether to give up their campaign.
Marc Cheung, an 18-year-old member of Scholarism, the student activist group that helped lead the campaign against national education, said that Mr. Leung's announcement on Saturday didn't go far enough. 'I don't feel really happy with what he said,' said Mr. Cheung, adding that the government should do more to incorporate diverse voices into a discussion about how schools should teach China's history. 'I still think we should withdraw it altogether,' he said of the plan.
Voters in Hong Kong on Sunday will elect a new legislative council, and analysts say that anger over the national education issue is expected to drive higher numbers of residents to go to the polls.
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