Baptist U Chief Calls For Talks With Youngsters

Baptist University’s president, Roland Chin, has issued a statement calling for a “big platform” for young people to communicate their thoughts, saying he is saddened by the recent protests against the now-suspended extradition bill.

Chin is the last of eight public university chiefs comment on the controversy.

In an internal email to students and academics, he said he first saw “hopelessness, fear and anger” on protesters’ face, which later turned into “desperation, violence and hatred”.

“Regardless of our political colours, what’s happening is heart-breaking. This is the time for all of us to take a deep breath, stop pointing fingers, stop making excuses, and try to understand ‘why’,” he said in the statement.

He said society needs to found out why pro-democracy and pro-establishment camps, which used to co-exist in peace, have been “polarised into two hostile political colours”; why young people nowadays can no longer expect to be rewarded a decent life even if they work hard despite the city’s affluence; and why younger generations have been willing to risk their future in protests “day after day and night after night”.

“What are they asking for beyond economic and financial security and how should our community respond to them?” Chin asked.

“As an educator, I would regard our young people as part of the solution rather than the problem, and mobilise scholars to help contribute to finding solutions,” he added.

He proposed setting up a dialogue platform, and inviting “those who are open-minded and trusted by our young generation” to help facilitate talks, so as to learn why the youngsters are angry, what their dreams are, and how they can contribute".

Chin made clear such “facilitators “should not be government officials, politicians, or those deeply entrenched in their own political views”, but added they can make recommendations to policy makers based on results of such talks.