MNE body a good help

The Education Bureau on Wednesday announced the list of members of the Moral and National Education Curriculum Committee (MNECC), inviting altogether 18 representatives from the groups Scholarism, Parents Concern Group (PCG), Education Convergence and the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union (PTU). Several leading opponents of MNE, however, turned down the invitation to join the committee.

The MNECC is the government's response to public debate over the MNE curriculum. Its mission is to collect opinions from all corners of society during the three-year "prelude" to full implementation. That will provide guidance to the government about what needs to be done to improve the curriculum, gauge the difficulties for delivering the subject and to screen teaching materials. The details of its work will be posted on the Internet for public scrutiny.

Cooperating and communicating with representatives who hold different opinions is of great importance for the government, to provide information to enhance public understanding of national education. Only in this way can a satisfactory curriculum be produced, capable of drawing broad community support and fulfilling expectation from all stakeholders.

As it is the first time for the national education curriculum to be introduced in Hong Kong, challenges remain unavoidable. This advisory committee should be regarded as one important channel for the government to show its sincerity and the will to listen to the society for the introduction of the MNE curriculum. Contrary to expectations, the opponents of national education refused to cooperate and even created barriers without justification to block communication between the public and the authorities, intensifying conflicts and tension.

National education is a common practice around the world and has been under discussion for years after the handover. The first thing Hong Kong society needs to do is to find the appropriate way to improve the format for MNE delivery and better development of students' critical and independent thinking. All parties concerned should remain calm in the ongoing debate over the MNE curriculum and turn their minds to cooperation and exchange with the authorities.

This is an excerpted translation of a Wen Wei Po editorial published on Aug 23.

HK's role in 'go-overseas'

The mainland and Hong Kong have agreed jointly to set the SAR as a base camp for promising mainland enterprises to explore overseas markets. Vice-Premier Li Keqiang made an important remark on Wednesday expressing his hope that mainland and Hong Kong entrepreneurs will seize the opportunities presented by the world economic structural adjustment and impending major breakthroughs in science and technology development.

In that way, the mainland and Hong Kong could jointly enter international competition and find greater room for development to elevate mainland-Hong Kong exchange and cooperation to higher levels. The introduction of a series of tailor-made policies will offer Hong Kong businesses great opportunities to benefit, by becoming partners to mainland enterprises wanting to "go overseas."

Heads of central government departments concerned and Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying announced development blueprints at the second China Overseas Investment Summit (COIS) on Wednesday and presented concrete measures to implement the plans. The five measures presented by Zhang Xiaoqiang, vice-minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, attracted particular attention. These five measures are designed to ensure implementation of the 36 supportive policies and measures taken by the central government favoring Hong Kong.

Vice-Premier Li's remarks once again prove the central government's sincerity that Hong Kong should play a bigger role in the country's 12th Five-Year Development Program. The central government holds great expectations for the SAR in this respect.

Blessed with the "One Country, Two Systems" policy, Hong Kong enjoys unmatched advantages in international competition, including a well-grounded financial system, a simple tax regime, free access to information, flexible and efficient market operation and a mature judicial system to guarantee the rule of law. These advantages have attracted many investment specialists from around the world, well-versed in laws, regulations and market environments in other parts of the world. It's the right time for Hong Kong to step up. What the city needs to do now is to prove it is the right place and has the right people to play the role well.

This is an excerpted translation of a Hong Kong Commercial Daily editorial published on Aug 23.

(HK Edition 08/24/2012 page3)