Kris Cheng is a Hong Kong journalist with an interest in local politics. His work has been featured in Washington Post, Public Radio International, Hong Kong Economic Times and others. He has a BSSc in Sociology from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Kris is HKFP's Editorial Director.
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The student group Scholarism says it is discussing plans for the future, as rumours spread online that the group may soon be disbanded.
“We heard from sources that Scholarism will announce its disbandment on March 20, 2016 (Sunday),” Online radio station IBHK posted on its Facebook page at 10pm Tuesday.
At 11:40pm, Scholarism posted a response on its Facebook page, which did not directly deny the rumour.
“Scholarism has recently been discussing future directions – it will be officially announced to the public if there is news in the future,” the post said.
Scholarism members cannot be members of a political party. Oscar Lai Man-lok, a former spokesperson, left the group last month to campaign for the Civic Party’s Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu in the by-election. Scholarism had stated that their spokesperson and convenor would not make any public statements declaring support for any candidates of the election.
LegCo run
Since last month, people associated with Scholarism have been speaking of forming a new political party, including convenor Joshua Wong Chi-fung, member Agnes Chow Ting and Lai. The group are eyeing the Legislative Council elections in September and are pushing for a referendum on Hong Kong’s future.
Netizens raised concerns over what would happen to donation money should Scholarism disband, asking whether it would be transferred to the new party.
Joshua Wong also filed a judicial review last year to challenge the lower age limit required for election candidates from 21 to 18. He had said that he may run for the legislative elections should he win the case.