Friday, January 10, 2025

Remembering a Passionate Social Activist


Shiu was passionate about helping the community. He was 55.


It was sad to find out former opposition lawmaker Shiu Ka-chun died Friday morning Hong Kong time after battling stomach cancer. He was 55 years old. 

Last November he announced he was diagnosed with the disease and had emergency surgery to remove half of his stomach, and lost 15kg as a result. While in hospital he attended his graduation ceremony virtually for a masters degree in Christian Studies.

Although he was discharged 16 days after the procedure, he was admitted to hospital again in late December as his condition worsened.

Shiu virtually attended his graduation in hospital
Shiu was a social work lecturer at Baptist University and was one of the key figures in the 2014 Occupy Movement that called for universal suffrage. For his participation he was jailed for eight months in 2019.

In 2016 he won a seat in the Legislative Council representing the social work constituency, but could not seek re-election because of his conviction, while the university refused to renew his contract in 2020 without reason, and Shiu claimed it was "political persecution".

A year after the 2019 protests when scores of young people were jailed for taking part, Shiu set up Wall-fare, a non-profit prisoners' rights group that gave support to those behind bars, and helped their families navigate the system. The organisation also encouraged people to write letters to prisoners to help keep their spirits up.

But in September 2021, Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung suggested that people in custody on national security charges were building new forms of resistance through help from outside groups, which led to Shiu shuttering Wall-fare. 

Cheung (left) paid tribute to Shiu (right)
Former legislator and fellow colleague Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung, who has lived in Canada since 2022, said Shiu was his "best partner" in the social work field, and in social movements, having worked together on such issues as prisoners' rights and youth suicide among others.

"His concern for the underprivileged, his insistence on social justice, and his contribution to the work of prisoners' rights will live on forever," Cheung said on social media.


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Remembering a Passionate Social Activist

Shiu was passionate about helping the community. He was 55. It was sad to find out former opposition lawmaker Shiu Ka-chun died Friday morni...