Billy Fung Jing-en
Billy Fung Jing-en (born 26 November 1993) is a Singaporean with permanent residency in Hong Kong, supporter of Hong Kong independence movement and localism. He is known for the pro-vice-chancellor selection controversy at Hong Kong University.
Billy Fung Jing-en 馮敬恩 | |
|---|---|
| President of Hong Kong University Student Union | |
| In office 2015-2016 | |
| Preceded by | Yvonne Leung |
| Succeeded by | Suen Hiu Lam |
| Personal details | |
| Nationality | Singaporean |
| Residence | Upper Kwai Chung, Hong Kong |
| Education | Hong Kong University SOAS University of London |
| Alma mater | Hong Kong University |
Background
Fung was born in Singapore, his father came from Hong Kong, his mother came from China. Fung’s maternal grandfather is a member of the Communist Party of China and a retired physician, now resides at Beijing. Fung’s father migrated to Singapore due to his witness of June Fourth Incident. Fung returned to Hong Kong in 1999, however his life turned difficult. He was forced to move from private housing to public housing, his parents later divorced and he suffered from cancer and cerebellar hemangioblastoma at his secondary years. Fortunately, Fung did not lost an education opportunity.
Participation in politics
Early participations
Fung started to join political participations since the National Education in 2012, he attend the assembly in front of the government headquarters during the gap hours between after school and tutorial classes. Fung assisted Yvonne Leung, who was the President of Hong Kong University Student Union at that time during the Umbrella Movement.
Presidency of the Student Union
In 2015, Fung contested the presidency of the Hong Kong University Student Union by leading his cabinet “Ascent”, which upheld the route of Hong Kong localism, and defeated the opponent cabinet “Smarties”, which was led by Ye Lushan, who is a former member of the CPC Youth Wing. Since then, Fung became familiar in the political circle.
Due to Fung being the president of the Student Union, he was appointed as a member of the school council, and he was involved in the vice chancellor scandal in Hong Kong University.
Post-presidency of the Student Union
Fung was arrested from his home on 20 July 2016, for allegedly the storming into the school council, which he faces charges of criminal intimidation and obstruction of public officer. He was released later, Fung's arrest led to criticism from Suen Hiu-lam, the President of the Student Union.
Fung became active in the political sphere, in 2016, he gradually support Edward Leung's running for the New Territories East electoral by-election, which Leung is his schoolmate in Hong Kong University. Fung also considered to run in the 2016 LegCo election, however he has to renounce his Singaporean nationality[lower-alpha 1] in order to run in the election, finally the localist camp didn't nominate him for running in the LegCo election, but Fung gave wide support to the localist camp.
After a year for the case of School Council storming trial delay, Fung was afraid that the imprisonment from the case would affect his registration in the Postgraduate education in Taiwan, which he was offered by the School of Political Science at National Taiwan University. Fung also feared the scene of With Prisoners would repeat on him if he was imprisoned. Finally, Fung was sentenced for a community service order of 240 hours, which didn't affect his plan to study in Taiwan.[1]
With his application of the judicial review of the HKU vice-principal appointment results, the court rejected his application.
Fung is now a post graduate student in SOAS University of London.
Notes
- Fung once had a Chinese nationality from 1997, which he gained through juis sanguinis. The Chinese nationality was renounced by Fung in 2016, which did according to the Nationality Law of Republic of Singapore, that all Singaporeans must renounce their foreign nationality at the age of 22.
References
- "Victim among hundreds to support former student leaders Billy Fung and Colman Li". SCMP. Retrieved 26 March 2018.