Mr Carlson Tong, honorable guests, my fellow school mates, ladies and

gentlemen, I’m Wong Ching Tak, the President of the Hong Kong University
Student’s Union. On behalf on the SU, I would like to welcome all of the
freshmen to the University of Hong Kong. This is the place where, over the
past few years, I’ve become very fond of. And I wish when you graduate you
can also share with me this feeling toward this place. Our university is full
of opportunities, but not everyone knows how to search and grasp these
opportunities. Some will delve in to the sea of knowledge and pursue academic
excellence; and some will get a lot of internships to get a competitive CV.
But let’s be honest: Studying is not going to the only priority for many of
us. Many will, of course, join student societies and, of course, just to do
everything we can have done here (?). Now, this is not the occasion for me
to lecture you what the best choice can be. My only advice is that you should
choose what you would like to dedicate to mindfully, and then make an all-
out effort, so a few years later, you leave with no regrets.

But there are, in fact, two things that I would like you to do.

The first thing is to search for and to learn the truth.

If you studied at a local secondary school like I did, you should have studied
liberal studies, and your teachers probably gave you a definition for
democracy so that you can tackle related questions in public exams. But when
I got in to this university, I learnt the truth that there is simply no
definition for democracy. And you can only acquaint yourself with the concept
if you start to comprehend the various interpretations.

Searching for the truth is particularly important when we are now in a time
of delusion and deception. Outright lies and fallacies are now penetrating
our society. We are told that we are intrinsically and essentially as Chinses
regardless of our cultural backgrounds and our sense of belonging. We are
told that separation of power has never existed in Hong Kong, and the
Legislative Council and the Court should cooperate with the government. And
we are told that rule of law simply means abiding by the law, and civil
disobedience to oppose an unjust law is an unhealthy trend.

We are now facing official narratives from the government that are full of
lies and fabrications. So, it is important for us to search for the truth
and learn the truth. Learn what democracy can be; learn what the rule of law
truly means; learn what a nation is. To put it simple, again, really, to
search for the truth. This is the only way that we stay who we are, instead
of becoming people that are obedient and subservient to the regime.

The second thing is: Do not turn a blind eye to things that are not right.

Indeed, we can focus on studying, focus on graduating with first class honours
and turn a blind eye to the fact that, currently, our council, the council
of this university, which is the highest decision-making body, is in fact
dominated by people from outside, many of whom are pro-government. You can
focus on getting a high paying job in face of the crazy land price and turn
a blind eye to what is wrong with our land policy. You can avoid criticizing
the government, avoid talking about the so-called sensitive issues, and turn
a blind eye to the fact that Chinese laws are going to be implemented, right
here in Hong Kong, just because there is now a railway linking up Hong Kong
and cities in China.

You turn a blind eye to all of these and probably you would still be living
fine in Hong Kong, working and studying five days a week and grabbing a drink
during the weekends. But then one day, everything you took for granted will
disappear. Every day, every hour, in this very moment when we are sitting
here, there are people outside trying to take away the things we cherish.
One day you cannot even call yourselves Hong Kong people or say that you
belong to Hong Kong. And one day you are going to fear for the cost brought
simply by what you have said.

I usually try to be an articulate person. But sometimes finessing a word play

can obscure the horrid truth. The truth that we are facing now is that we
are going to deal with the Chinese government and its puppet regime in Hong
Kong that are plain evil. You take a look at the mass arrests and imprisonment
of human rights lawyers in China, or what happened to the minorities in Tibet,
then you know I’m not exaggerating.

So do not [?] and turn a blind eye to the injustice that is happening around
us. Stay with me and stay with those who are still fighting for Hong Kong.

One final thing is that, as this university celebrates the victory of an

alumnus Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor in the Chief Executive election, I want every
one of you sitting here also to remember that many selfless people including
Alex Chow Yong-Kang, Edward Leung Tin-kei, Billy Fung Jing-en and Colman Li
Fung-kei, are also from the University of Hong Kong. They are the people that
have fought for not just our generation but our later generations so that we
may have a better Hong Kong. They are the people who we should be learning
from.

In the past years, there have been failures, there have been disappointments.
But let’s not give up.

Recently, I’ve heard a lot people talking about leaving this place. But if
we just go away, 30 years from now, when our children ask, “where were you
when the communist party took over”, we could only say we stood by. So do not
falter or waiver, or we become the greatest weapon of our enemy to
disintegrate our forces from within.

We have to keep going. Keep going even if we don’t know what is ahead of us.
And as we stay together, a brighter future can always be found, even in our
darkest hour.
Thank you!