Suspended Students Leads to Firestorm over Cartoon

Zunzi's cartoon sparked complaints from the police

The Education Bureau has told St Francis Xavier's school in Tsuen Wan to submit a report that resulted in 14 students being suspended for apparently disrespecting China's anthem and emblem when they failed to turn up for the flag-raising ceremony.

One of the students said he was confused by the punishment as suspensions are reserved for students who smoke on campus or get caught in a fight.

"Although I'm back at school now, I have no idea why I was punished," he said.

St Francis Xavier School in Tsuen Wan

The student said that morning they were eating breakfast in the school playground when the anthem started playing.

He began walking over when he heard the anthem but was stopped by the principal who told the students they were suspended and ordered to pack up their things and leave.

"How could you decide this before having any evidence? Everyone in Form Six is racing against time doing past [exam] papers. Have you considered us before suspending us?" asked another student.

In a letter to parents, the school said the 14 students were suspended for "breaking school rules" because they had failed to turn up for assembly.

The flag-raising ceremony is mandated to be held on a weekly basis. 

Some lawmakers said the punishment may have been too harsh, but still felt the students were in the wrong.

But others had another opinion.

Leo Chu Tsz-lok, the education affairs spokesman for the Democratic Party, urged authorities to review the manner in which the school had handled the incident.

Zunzi's caricature self-portrait

"You can't boost one's patriotism by punishing [students]. While there are guidelines from education authorities on the flag-raising ceremony, students should not be taken to task at every turn just for some minor and careless mistakes."

Political cartoonist Zunzi made a mockery of the incident in a political cartoon, but was admonished by the police for painting them in a bad light.

The cartoon shows riot police arriving at a school, with one officer asking a bespectacled woman: "What bad things have the students done today, headmistress Chan?" The woman lists the infringements -- using foul language, stealing an eraser, bringing along a laser pen, and talking back to the teacher.

He wanted to show the absurdity of the situation, but the police took exception and complained to Ming Pao. 

The police letter said the cartoon would mislead readers into thinking officers were called in to handle students who showed "disrespect" for the flag-raising ceremony.

The letter added the cartoon's content was "not factual" and would not only "damage the force's reputation", but also "harm the force's relations with citizens".

For the most part relations were damaged back in 2019... sending this letter showed how desperate the force is to defend its reputation, and that it didn't have a sense of humour.

Zunzi denied he was criticising the force, but instead asking for teachers to be more lenient on disciplinary matters.

The brouhaha over the cartoon made the force look even more thin-skinned and emphasised the absurdity of the school's punishment of the students.

Luckily Zunzi is not in Hong Kong anymore, but still, can no one take a joke these days?