Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam says he disagrees with a recent report that found academic freedoms in Macau and Hong Kong were waning.
According to Tam, who was speaking on the sidelines of a government event on Sunday, his office disputes the report issued by Scholars at Risk, an international network of academic institutions based in the United States.
“I don’t think this is true. Everyone knows that in Macau higher education institutions have freedom of expression and the freedom to conduct studies. You can ask this to all the deans, but as for me, I don’t agree with the report,” said Tam.
“I have never interfered with the freedom of the press,” he added on a related note. “You can rest assured.”
In a report published last week titled “Obstacles to Excellence: Academic Freedom and China’s Quest for World-Class Universities,” Scholars at Risk noted that both Hong Kong and Macau’s academic freedom were confronted with “a shrinking space for ideas.”
Despite Macau and Hong Kong having differing levels of institutional autonomy compared to their counterparts in mainland China, the report cited the fact that higher education communities in both special administrative regions had been subjected to the same pressures intended to restrain academic activity and expression following their return to China.
Although the association believes that violations of academic freedom in Hong Kong and Macau have not reached the level of severity seen in mainland China, the overt threats targeting scholars and students indicate that space for inquiry and expression is increasingly under attack.
“These challenges threaten quality higher education institutions nurtured in Hong Kong and Macau over the years, and suggest an increasingly fragile environment for free inquiry and expression in the SARs,” the report stated. LV
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